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 Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 8:42 pm
♞x x x xL o r dxxV a r i a nx x x x♞ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  
x Varian back-winged gracefully, nearly vertical in the air as he touched down with his hind legs, letting out a gentle sigh as all four hooves were firmly on the ground once more. He had been gone from home for...far, far too long. He had missed his beloved dearly, and he felt a lump in his throat. Guilt. He felt so guilty for leaving Avari to fend for herself for so long, and even though he knew his Chosen had been watching over her -- by scrying with his Skill -- Varian still couldn't help but worry. He had been travelling south with the King's Army for the last several moonturns, and he had seen too much blood, grief, and loss. He felt dirty, stained, unclean, tainted from exposure to the War. And even though he wouldn't have been born from his father's ashes without it, he still resented anything that took him away from Avari.
The stallion broke into an easy trot, ducking under the low-hanging boughs of the wayward pine trees in the grove he called home, making sure his antlers wouldn't catch. That would be an interesting homecoming, wouldn't it? The graceful, battle-scarred warrior coming home to his Avari and getting his antlers all tangled in a tree. The stallion smiled and snorted to himself at the mental image as he pressed on, spreading his wings open and leaping gracefully over the stream that marked the boundary of 'his' territory. As he made his way through the forest, his mind turned to grim thoughts, dragging his heart down.
He had heard her Call out to him countless times through their Bond, but he had been unable to answer. He had hated pushing her away and blocking her out, but he had had no choice; if he would've been in contact with her, he wouldn't have been able to remain focused during the battles, the starvation, the wariness and fear. Avari was the only thing -- except his Chosen -- that had kept him going during those long, dark months, and Varian had abhorred leaving her alone and lonely. But he didn't have a choice, dammit. He had heard her Call to him when he had been in a fight with four of the Six's agents, surrounded, with a broken wing and blood matting his fur. He had nearly given up then and there and allowed himself to be taken captive; she had sounded so lost, so forlorn and hopeless, and it took everything he had just to keep fighting. He had made it, obviously, but not without a price.
Where once there was a pristine coat, it was now crossed with scars; ugly, raised things that he couldn't hide, even with his magics. How in the Nine Hells was he supposed to explain those to his Little Sparrow? The stallion sighed and shook his head, the bells on his antlers chiming softly. With the truth, he supposed. He just hoped Avari would forgive him for the months of silence. He would never do that to her again; he was stronger now than he had been when he was campaigning. The next time he left her, he would be able to keep in contact with her, but he wished -- oh, Gods, he wished -- that he would never have to leave her again. A Fool's hope, yes, but what else could be done?
Shaking off his thoughts before they pulled him into bleak despair, the stallion slowed to a sedate walk as he entered their grove, blue eyes bright as he looked around. Avari wasn't here. A frown marred the Azrein's features, and he pushed his worry aside. She wasn't hurt or in danger; he would've felt that through the Bond. He sent out a tendril of thought, blanketing the lands within a half-mile with his Presence and sent out a Call.
"Avari? Little Sparrow, I've come home."
[ [ O O C : ] ]
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Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 9:13 pm
'Avari?' The mares ears folded back as the soft, questioning whisper reached her. It couldn't be. Eyes widening slightly, she turned to glance around her, confusion shining in her bright eyes for the moment. 'Little sparrow, I've come home.' Heart quickening as the one phrase she had waited so long to hear danced in her head, she turned her head away from the opening outside and to the darkness of her cave as she closed her eyes tight. Oh Great Mother, she had promised. Yet even now she felt the urge to break into tears of happiness, she had thought he was gone forever. Drawing in a deep breath to steady her resolve, the small unicorn carefully pulled herself to her hooves and walked quietly to the entrance of the cave.
Though she already knew he would not be outside she still walked as though she would be able to greet the large stallion back in his grove. Steadying herself in the cool breeze outside that brushed over her, she hesitated before cautiously reaching through the bond she had tried her hardest to destroy and forget. "It has been awhile Lord Varian." Slight panic lined her words, though she tried to keep them soft and neutral. Great Mother keep her strong, she had so much she had to do still. Returning to reside in that sanctuary would do no good.. 
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Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 9:26 pm
♞x x x xL o r dxxV a r i a nx x x x♞ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
x Varian let out a sigh of relief. She was safe. But...she wasn't here. A frown marred his features as the stallion flicked an ear, trying to pinpoint her location. Why had she left the grove? What could have caused her to leave the safety, the sanctuary that home provided? The stallion spread his wings and pushed off of the ground, groaning as pain flared from his hip. He had taken a horn in the joint three months back, and though the Healers had done their best, it would never be as strong as it had been before the fight.
"Indeed it has, my love, and for that, I am so sorry. I'm on the wing and headed your way, Little Sparrow." She wasn't too far away, but she was definitely out of her comfort zone. And that made Varian worried. That wasn't like her, to abandon safety, let alone by herself. And it didn't seem like anyone was with her in the Web within his mind. So, why? As he gained height, the stallion dipped a wing and turned toward the Borro Hills, thankful that the flight wasn't very long. On hoof, it'd take him an hour, but he could cover it on the wing in a fifth of that time.
A smile lit his face as he saw the Azrein of the Greater Herd beneath him, and he trumpeted out a cry to them in greeting, a symphony of neighs rising up to him in return. He passed by them and continued on, and finally felt the presence of his love below. He tucked his wings to his side and allowed gravity to do the work for him, going into a dive. When he was thirty feet from the ground, he snapped out his wings and glided a few feet above the grass, backwinging gracefully to a stop in front of Avari, who stood at the mouth of a cave.
Varian felt as if his heart was about to explode; he had waited so long to see Avari. He came to her with tears in his eyes, wrapping his wings around her protectively as he rested his neck atop hers, letting out a sigh. "Oh, my love, I am so sorry. I truly wish I could have Called out to you, Avari, but my heart couldn't stand the thought of hearing your voice and not coming home immediately. Can you ever forgive me, Little Sparrow?"
The stallion tucked his wings against his sides and took a step back, meeting Avari's gaze. Without the need for words, his Empathy conveyed all he had seen and done to his Sparrow in a rush of feelings and images, though he kept the more gruesome bits to himself. "Avari, I swear to you, on my honor, that that will never happen again, my love. I cannot even begin to express how sorry I am." His words were heavy with guilt and grief, and he would truly understand if Avari shunned him; he deserved it after leaving her wondering for so many months.
[ [ O O C : ] ]
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Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 10:31 pm
'Headed your way'
Breath catching momentarily, the mare felt the sudden urge to move and quick though her hooves stayed planted firmly on the ground. How would she keep her promise when he was standing right ahead of her. Letting the sound of his voice fall silent in her mind, she closed her eyes lightly as she took a moment to try and center herself and throw the urge to run away. Horn lighting softly she allowed her ming to relax under it's soothing glow as she imagined all she had left to accomplish. She needed to remember her dreams, for forgetting them would cause her nothing but more pain in the end. Ears lifting when the distant beating of wings caught her attention, Avari let her soothing magic fall away as she opened her gaze to watch the sky around her for the first sight of his silhouette. Tail curling beneath her when her blue gaze spotted him, she felt her heart skip a beat and shifted her weight uneasily.
She was torn. Eyes locked on him as he descended from the fly and glided to a soft stop before him, Avari felt her heart urged her to offer him bright smile and walk into his embrace, yet she held herself as still as her mind demanded. Turning her head away from him when he approached, she felt herself shake lightly when his wings wrapped her in a comforting embrace and he spoke. Closing her eyes, she tried to still her body as she listened to his words in silence. The only sign that she was hearing him was the slight tilt of her ear in his direction. "No.." She whispered under her breath as her heart clenched uneasily at the message be brought with him as she drew in a shaky breath and closed her eyes once more to halt the tears that wished to spill from them.
Little Sparrow. She had thought she'd never hear those words whispered again when she'd left. Feeling him step away from her, she lifted her gaze to his for a moment. Holding his gaze uneasily Avari took a step back of her own as she felt unwanted emotions rush over her. It was all very confusing for her mind to process completely, though the basic message was able to reach her closed off mind. War. She had never had to see the brunt of it in her life but she understood the weight such a word carried with it. It was only now that she took the moment to inspect the god that had once been hers. Moving a bit closer to him when her gaze slid over the many scars she did not remember him having when he left she felt the tears gather again. Great Mother shame her, her heart couldn't let her keep the promise she'd made many nights ago. Feeling her halt a few steps from him, she lifted her gaze to the bells on his antlers and let out a soft sigh as she returned her gaze to his own.
"Varian.. I.." Voice cutting off suddenly as she felt her ability to speak fail her for a moment. Drawing in another breath to steady her racing heart, she pawed quietly at the stones beneath her hooves. "You left without a word." Ears flicking back as she spoke those words, the mare felt herself recalling the fear she had felt when the first month had passed and she's tried to contact him in fear for his safety. "I had assumed you were simply heading off to the company of your.. king. You.. You could have answered me one time to let me know where you'd gone." Her voice hushed, she turned her gaze from his as she looked off to the mountain before her as she spoke again.
"I thought you were never going to return."
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 5:45 pm
♞x x x xL o r dxxV a r i a nx x x x♞ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
x Blue eyes darkened considerably with sadness as Varian heard the pain in Avari's voice, and the stallion felt his heart clench in his chest, and a cold pit of guilt settled itself uncomfortably in his gut. How could he explain it to her? He had had no real reason not to answer her, beside the fact that he would take to the skies the moment he did and abandon his Duty. But that was impossible for him to do, and his Torment would've ensured he was wracked with pain every moment he was with her and away from the War.
"Avari, I cannot even begin to express how terribly sorry I am for leaving you. But I couldn't make myself answer you, Little Sparrow, for if I would've, I would have doubtlessly returned to your side, abandoning the Army and my Duty." Varian let out a sigh, his ears flat against his skull in remorse. "I know it was wrong of me to do that to you, my love; you deserved an explanation, and I failed to give you one, and for that I apologize." Not that apologizing would do any good; he had really wronged her, and he understood her hesitation to return to the folds of his wings. If she had done to him what he did to her, he would've been absolutely livid, and it said a lot for Avari's character that she didn't shun him outright.
However, Varian had a peace-offering, and perhaps that would help assuage her fears. "But in my travels, Avari, I believe I found the last-known position of the slavers that took your family." Blue eyes watched her intently; he knew this was a sore subject for her, and he didn't want to push her. She was still fragile, and Varian wanted nothing more than to keep her safe and away from that pain, but he knew that if they could confront the slavers, perhaps it would help her heal. Or so he hoped, anyway.
[ [ O O C : ] ]
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 7:54 pm
Apologizes, simple words that held no meaning a majority of the time they were used. Yet here she was standing and listening to even more spill from the lips of the stallion before her. How many of them were lies, half truths. Feeling her emotions begin to shut off when the first wave of anger washed over her. She wouldn't let herself be overcome with anger, it would do no good in this situation. Eyes staring at his hooves she simply offered him a light nod in response to his words while carefully thinking of what she could say. "Varian.." Sighing his name she lifted her gaze to his own as the unicorn tried to spy any false feeling shining back at her. Though she was the littlest bit pleased when she spied no such thing. "I would not have called you back to the glade had you responded to my calls. I could not be that selfish, after all I had tried it once before and where did it get us?" Feeling a smile pull at her lips she let a quiet laugh leave her. "You had nearly died, I could not be that silly again."
It was only when he spoke up again that there was a true physical reaction on the small mare. Body tensing up, her eyes quickly lifted to catch his own. He'd found them? Eyes wide as a chill of fear penetrated her to the very bone. "My family?" Shaking off the chill she walked closer to his side, her voice soft as she chose her words carefully. "Did you.. see them?" Could they really be around and safe? So focused on the mention of family, it never crossed her mind that they might not even be with the band of horrid men. "Is Dalraida okay? Did she look healthy?" Ears flicking back, her words quickened at the mention of her older sibling. No, of course she was okay. Dal was always the smart one of them, she'd do anything to keep alive. Shaking her head, she felt her limbs quake as the image of her early betrayal flashed through her mind. "Do you know where they are now? Can we get them back? I haven't seen her in so long." Forcing a smile to her maw she turned her head away from him to glance around the mountains. "Are we near them? I'd looked around the area earlier but maybe I'd missed it." Could she be so close to them? Perhaps Nim was with them?
No. No she died before her eyes. Though in this moment she felt the lines of truth and hope blurring, had she really seen her younger sibling fall? Maybe they had spared her and she was loaded on a different wagon? Quickly shaking her head at the notions she couldn't help the small flame of hope that sat in her heart. Maybe she was correct. Maybe. Tears building in her eyes as she turned to look up at him hopeful. "I need to make it up to them Varian.." Avari was all that was left of her once close family band, she had to do something. What was her freedom if her siblings still sat in the metal and rope of those disgusting humans. Every night since she'd left the glade she'd been forced to see their faces, the still one of Nim, the startled one of her mothers before she fled, and the haunted look of betrayal on Dalraida's as she fled. In the peace of Varian's glade it had been easy to put it in the back of her mind, ignore the problems in her homeland. She finally remembered clearly the life she had lived in these haunted woods. Maybe it was because she was so now so close to them..
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 10:14 pm
♞x x x xL o r dxxV a r i a nx x x x♞ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
x The stallion waited patiently as his Sparrow shot off question after question, clearly both excited and afraid. He could feel the hope coursing through their Bond, and the stallion had to maintain control over his features to ensure he didn't give anything away. How could he tell her what he needed to? The Deity bit back a sigh and closed his azure eyes for a moment, thinking of the best way to explain to his Sparrow what he had seen. Varian nuzzled Avari on the cheek as she quieted, his heart clenching. "I know you must, Little Sparrow. But come, let us get somewhere safe for the night and I shall explain to you all I saw and heard."
Clearly, Avari had been using the cave in the hillside to sleep, so Varian motioned with his antlers that she should proceed him into the opening. As he entered, Varian took a quick look around to make sure that no threats were in sight before following her inside. He drew on the Skill within him, sending a globe of Magelight up into the air, lighting the cozy space with a warm glow. He stopped a moment and took some time to simply look at Avari. He hadn't seen her in months, and she was even more beautiful than he had remembered. Her curved horn seemed to take in the warm blue glow of the Magelight, lighting her features and bringing out the dusky blue in her large eyes. Her eyelashes curved against her brow and cheek, and her pointed ears peeked out of her thick, lustrous mane. The feathers in her hair matched the color of her eyes perfectly, and her fur glistened like the first pure, pristine fall of snow over the land. Her tail swayed absently, the tuft on its end flowing fluidly in the gentle motion of her tail. Varian even loved the scars on her shoulder and hindquarters, despite all the pain and heartbreak they represented; she was the most beautiful, stunning, purest creature he had ever seen, and would ever meet. How could he even begin to tell her how much he loved her? There was nothing he wouldn't do for her, no sacrifice he wouldn't make, and he would never leave her side again without telling her. He had been a fool and a coward in that, and he vowed to never make the same mistake again; she deserved far better than he, and Varian considered himself the luckiest soul in all the universe to just be able to be with her.
Without realizing it, Varian hadn't closed their Bond, and he was surprised to find the mare nuzzling him tentatively, bringing him back to the present. He smiled warmly down at her and moved over beside her, folding his knees gracefully beneath him, motioning with his antlers for her to lay beside him. He waited as she got settled in, and felt the sting of tears in the corners of his eyes; Gods, how he had missed her. He nickered quietly and draped a wing over her delicately curved back, and began to tell his Sparrow all he had seen. "During the Army's campaign, we traveled far to the South, almost to the Enrias Mountains. At their foothills, I saw a band of humans at the horizon, and excused myself and took to the wing to check it out, thinking them possible allies of the Six. However, when I got there, what I saw both surprised and horrified me. They were a group of perhaps fifteen men, with wagons of cages, rope, chains, collars, and whips. I heard the men talking of capturing some of the free-roaming Azrein in the Desert, and taking them back to their camp in the Southern Fields." The stallion paused to take a breath and gauge Avari's reation; so far, so good.
"That's a long journey; at best, it'd take them about a month and a half. That was only three weeks past, and as I was returning to you, I decided to fly over the area they had described. Sure enough, there was what looked like an abandoned Outpost that they had set up in at the edge of a cluster of woods. It looked to be about a total of twenty men there, coming and going with Azrein and various animals. I spoke to Azreth, and he told me that he would gather up a small force before we returned to the field and bring them to justice. I assumed you would like to tag along, Little Sparrow, and see if any of the Azrein they held were known to you. How does that sound?" Varian waited as she digested all the information, nuzzling her behind an ear absently. He knew this would be hard on her, but it might be the only way she could find closure and begin to heal from the trauma of her past. He only prayed that they would find those she knew in good health, and not as discarded piles of bones.
[ [ O O C : ] ]
✖ ❤
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 12:41 pm
Pausing when she heard him stop, the mare angled her body to the right to watch him easily, he'd seemed so focused for a moment. With a tilt of her head she found her eyes widening a second later as a sphere of light floated into the air before him illuminating the area around them, and a wall containing strange markings that had a look of writing. These Avari had no reaction too, since they had been written by her the day before, instead she seemed so focused on the magic Varian had just conjured before her. Had he always been able to do such a thing? Avari blinked as she drew into her memories to remember. Yet she could only place the times Varian's horns would glow to produce light when it was needed, much like she'd used her horn every now and again. What else had changed within the great stallion while he was parted from her? Returning to the present she was surprised to find him staring back at her, almost studying her very being. Feeling a warm smile light her face under the light unknowingly at the kind and loving feeling that filled her heart through the bond she found herself studying him back without meaning too. It had been so long since she'd been beside him, and in this moment under the love he was projecting to her she found herself forgetting the anger their long parting had kindled in her heart. Great Mother's promise forgotten, she moved closer to him as her gaze ran over the many scars that now plagued his once pristine coat. How had he come to bare such things? Brows pulling together when she spied a particularly nasty one residing near his hip, Avari leaned in to offer his neck a light nuzzle as her tail swayed behind her.
Glancing up when she heard the soft chiming of his bells, she smiled up at him when his gaze caught hers and he returned one of his own. Feeling the emotions he'd encouraged through the bond begin to leave, Avari found herself hesitating as he laid down beside her quite unsure whether to join him so closely or not. Shifting her weight on her hooves she pawed lightly at the ground as she turned her head to look around her, pausing when she spied the markings on the wall. She needed to make note of what had happened today, where she'd searched. Shaking her head she simply returned her attention to the stallion as she carefully moved to lay down at his side. Shifting to rest leaning away from him she dropped her ears back when he set his wing over her back like normal. It had always been such a comforting gesture, and even in the circumstances of their reuniting it never ceased to make her relax beside him as he began to tell his tale. War and man, how easily such a pair fit together. Starting out Avari was listening closely, making note of the direction and name of the location he'd last seen them. She would have to check there at some point. Though the count of them caused her to stiffen, she could never remember them traveling in such numbers. Had they grown more confident as time passed? Or had the pickings grown to slim in her homeland? Chin tucking as her eyes dropped to the ground before them, she tried to appear unaffected by his words. Yet the way he's described them, the chains, rope, whips sent her heart racing. It was so easy to see the horror such things brought to her life so many moons ago, even now she could still hear the crack of the whip on the horses that pulled their captives, feel the rocking as she lay huddled up with her sister afraid. Desperately holding back any sign she was in discomfort, she offered him another nod as he paused.
"So many?" She whispered softly, a shiver of her fear running down her spine as she spoke though she held back the urge to hide her head in his long mane. Varian had more to tell her after all, it was not done, and he was about to prove her fear correct. They were hunting outside of the mountains. They had moved from the home she remembered, had they truly run out of unicorns in the forest and moved onto other Azrein? Tail pulling in close to her, she listened to the remainder of his story in complete silence and held it for some time after his words stopped sounding. All she could think about was the face of her mother as she'd told her stories, warnings, and teaching of the unicorn ways. If they were hunted to such low numbers, perhaps they had simply gone into hiding? Oh she hoped that was the case, though now the rest of the isle was in danger of her kinds problem. There was also the thought of confronting such a party, Varian had extended his hand in allowing her to tag along. What could she do there? "I'm not sure if that would be best Varian. If I saw their faces and they ended up being those that ruined my family I don't know what I would do. I would want them to suffer under my very hooves. Destroy them like I know they'd destroyed so many of my own." Her voice was hard, and conflicted. She meant what she said, it would please her more then anything else to feel them break under the points on her hooves, but apart of her knew she could get no where near them. "Yet I couldn't let them see me.. It.. It's not like it was with your boy king. I had your promise that he would never harm me and even through my worry I trusted you partly. I can't go back on all I'd been taught, if one of them escaped and they have hunted down the last of my kind I may be hunted to the ends of the isle." Falling silent for a moment, she drew in a breath to steady her nerves and glanced up at him through her lashes. "Varian I don't want to die yet.. Have your king take them away. I can describe my family to you if that would help, or come by later on to search.. But I can't.. I can't let myself be put back in that situation.." Tears stinging in her eyes she turned her head away once more whispering softly under her breath as an apology to the Great Mother. What she had done to her sister plagued her, but the fear of hunters ropes built up panic in her breast. Even searching these hills she'd accepted that they may find her, it was easy to accept something she could not control. But walking towards such a situation knowing exactly what lay at the end was terrifying. What a fool she was..
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 9:49 pm
♞x x x xL o r dxxV a r i a nx x x x♞ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
x Varian listened in silence to Avari's quiet protests, knowing that the thought of confronting her once-captors must be utterly terrifying for her. So he simply lay beside her, hoping that his solid presence would be enough to remind her that nothing could come for her this night. But he knew that she had to face them again to be rid of her fear. And if any harm would come to her, his Foresight would doubtless warn him -- Avari was such an important part in his life, and he would have warning if anything untoward might happen.
The stallion felt the little mare's heart pounding away like a frightened bird within her breast, and he tucked his wing tighter against her flank, dipping his head to nose away a tear rolling down her silken cheek. He knew this was hard for her, but she couldn't see that in order to heal, she needed to face these men, to realize that she wasn't the same frightened foal as she was back then. But it was a delicate situation, and Varian didn't want to push her too hard; that would only set her back all that Varian had done to heal her already. And even though it didn't seem like it, the Deity was performing a very specific type of Mindhealing. It wasn't one of the Powers the Great Gods had given him, but the way he saw things, it was his duty to brush away all the pain and despair Avari had ever felt. And since he fervently believed that, the Gods had willed it to be so.
He could never Heal any other but Avari like this, but Varian would rather lose a wing than allow Avari to cast aside all he had helped her see thus far. So he had to tread very carefully with this subject, and he projected a subtle thread of confidence through their Bond. "Avari, that will never happen to you again. I am your Protector now, and even the strongest of humans is no match for a High Deity of us Azrein, Little Sparrow. If one of them even attempted to harm you, they would be reduced to liquid by the excruciating pain of my projected Torment, and would die a horrible, unclean death." The stallion's words were harsh, and the ball of Magelight flared a livid scarlet as he lost control of his emotions, his horns pulsing a dull, deep red as he thought of Avari in chains and terrified. He saw the cavern was now painted in bright and dark reds, and he his mate's eyes wide with surprise -- though he was relieved to see no fear of him there -- and realized that his horns had begun emitting light again and the Magelight had changed from its cool hue.
The stallion shook his head to the side sharply, as if casting fabric off of his antlers, and their pulsing glow vanished, returning his horns to normal. Simultaneously, the Magelight flickered and dimmed before strengthening back into their normal azure glow. "I'm...sorry about that, Avari." The stallion frowned. "My antlers glowing other than blue-- and indeed the Magelight -- are fairly new to me. When I was taken captive during the campaign by the enemy, I realized that the passive Skill within me that my Bonded uses can also be employed with my own Will, though most often I cannot control it." He lifted a wing in an apologetic shrug. "Nine times out of ten, it occurs when a strong emotion takes hold of me, and I don't even realize it's happened until someone points it out." Varian laid an elk-like ear flat against his skull. "There are many things I must speak to you about -- things that have changed within me -- but that is for another time."
The stallion paused a moment to recollect his thoughts. "But Avari, I promise you that I will never let anything hurt you ever again. I would give my life -- and my Bonded would gladly sacrifice his own -- for you. You are one of only two reasons I have for living, and nothing will jeopardize that." Varian nuzzled her behind the ear. "That being said, I still believe you should come with us. There will be a Rank -- that's a hundred humans and their Azrein -- escorting us, and no amount of untrained slaver trash is a match for the King's Companies. And I will not leave your side for an instant, save in the heat of battle, where you will be kept safe, far behind the lines." He allowed his words to sink in, and watched his mate's face intently. Come on, Little Sparrow. I know you're strong enough to do this; you just need to realize that you really do have the strength to overcome this trial.
While he waited for Avari to digest this information and reply to him, Varian closed his eyes and tugged on the link inside of him that led to his Chosen. He needed Azreth to know what he and Avari had spoken of, as well as let him know that the Skill inside of him had manifested itself without his control again. It took less than a heartbeat to relay this information, and the boy King replies will a wordless wave of assent, acceptance for his plan, and a request to return to the Castle to be examined by a Healer before they set off trying to find the slavers. Grudgingly, Varian accepted Azreth's request; he knew that him being able to use the Skill was something to be concerned about, but it didn't seem as vital to the stallion to get himself checked out again as it did to the human. Well, the boy certainly put up enough with him, so the least Varian could do was return the favor. The stallion nodded unconsciously, the bells hanging from his antlers chiming quietly.
That done, the Deity returned his full attention back to Avari. "You're strong, Little Sparrow, even if you don't see it. I know you can do this, and I will be by your side every moment. No harm shall come to you; I swear it on my Power."
[ [ O O C : ] ]
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Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 2:32 pm
Ears flicking back suddenly, she quickly turned her head to stare up at him in question, only to see his once crisp-white horns alighting in the same color as the rest of the cave. It sent another shiver through her body and she lowered her head before him. Fear flittering through her gaze for a moment before she quickly pulled it within her and looked over his features in concern. "Varian, are you okay?" She wondered softly, as her widened eyes shined with her confusion. Turning to glance about the room before they returned to his grand form and she leaned close to gently nose at his neck in concern. Quietly speaking in a language under her breath she tried to calm his anger with soft touches and nuzzles before pulling away when she felt his head shake above her and the harsh ring of his bells sounding in the cave around them. Returning her head to it's prior position slightly away form his form, Avari watched his features out of the corner of her eyes as she tried to search for any sighs that may portray it happening again anytime soon.
Hearing his quiet apology she simply offered a small shake of her head while her mind reeled trying to figure out the answers he had yet to give her. Though she felt in her heart that she wouldn't be happy with that she was told. Ears lifting in her hair she perked them in his direction as soon as he mentioned being captured. How had she not known? Drawing in a sharp breath she opened her mouth to interrupt his words, what he'd said had sent her into a flurry of concerns. He always had the ability to tell how she was feeling from a distance away. How could she have missed something as grave as his injuries in the same way? Closing her mouth when he'd shown no sign of stopping, she felt herself sigh before focusing fully on him for a moment. Peering up at his face she tried to feel his emotions, open the connection between them first rather then hold onto the bridge he opened to comfort her. Yet this only confused her, she never could seem to figure out where her emotions ended and his began, or if it had even worked to begin with. feeling her frustration and embarrassment peak she had hardly noticed that his words stopped momentarily and she could take that moment to question what exactly had happened in the war.
Yet at her name her full attention was brought to the current situation with his words. Letting a small smile touch her lips, she leaned into his nuzzle as her mind processed his words. A hundred humans and Azrein.. A hundred humans. Shaking the awful thoughts that tried to pry their way into her head she carefully lifted herself from under his wing to walk a few steps away from him. Shaking out her coat she drew in a quiet breath and turned around to face him. "Why don't we just go there on our own? Just the two of us?" Avari questioned softly as she pawed at the stone floor beneath her hoof, knocking about the small pebbles that laid there. "After all.. Wont a large group of Azrein and.. and humans tip off that they have been caught? It seems silly to try and walk up and expect them to be standing there waiting for their punishment." That was foolish after all, if it was simply Varian and herself they would simply have to be able to stay out of sight. His King's.. Rank could follow behind. "If we went alone I could see if my family is in their clutches, and you'd be able to fly to warn your King-bonded of everything we've seen. This way everyone wont just be parading around blindly hoping to stumble upon a camp that probably has some kind of lookout. They've been doing this for too long to act stupidly, maybe that would have worked in my homeland where the eyes of this isle never gazed but out in the open. I.. I'll be able to hide while you warned his Rank to approach." Feeling her voice shake as she spoke, Avari simply shook her head, tossing her bangs over her horn so she could look at the stallion and judge how he felt on the situation. Sighing, she turned her head to peer at the wall of writing for a moment, before turning her attention to his magelight and peering up at it. "All I ask if that we hold off leaving right away if you agree with my feelings. I have some searching for do in the mountains that can only be done under the cover of night." Quickly cutting off the prior conversation with a new one, she'd hoped to take his full agreement and cut off any arguing he had in return for her safety. She'd given that up the moment she'd gained these scars on her body.
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Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2013 6:06 pm
♞x x x xL o r dxxV a r i a nx x x x♞ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
x Varian closed his eyes with a gentle sigh as Avari comforted him, feeling the rage, confusion and fear of not being able to control his Skill being washed away by her love. Gods, he had missed her so much. He felt the mare groping through their Bond in an attempt to open it wider and see what he had been through during the months he was away, but Varian quickly pulled his mental walls up, shielding the horrors he had experienced from her mind. They would only cause her grief, and he didn't want her to be tainted by them; she was so innocent, so pure, and he didn't want to risk it. "I'm fine, Little Sparrow. Something inside of me opened back when I was captured, and I'm able to use the Skill within me now, though as yet I have no control over it." The stallion flicked a long ear dismissively, changing the subject.
"I believe us scouting the camp is a fairly good idea, but I do want the King's Rank nearby in case anything goes wrong." He was uneasy with the thought of the two of them amongst enemies alone -- Varian knew he could handle himself, but the thought of Avari being in trouble greatly unsettled him. Yet he knew that Avari was uneasy being in the presence of any human -- Azreth included -- let alone a hundred of them, even if they were all Bonded to Azrein. He didn't mind waiting a few days before their hunt, either; he could certainly use the time to recover. Varian nodded, blue gaze meeting Avari's. "It will be as you wish, Little Sparrow. We will leave when you decide, but I have one condition."
The stallion stood and walked over to the little mare, nuzzling her neck before stepping back and looking down at her. "Since we'll be by ourselves, you must do exactly as I say if we run into trouble. If I tell you to run, you run without questioning me. If I tell you to go back to Azreth, you go without hesitation. If I tell you to get behind me, you do so the first time I say it. And if I tell you to get as far away from me as you can, you must do it, no matter the danger to me." His words were harsh, but he needed her to understand. He was trained for all of these situations, and he couldn't fight properly if he was thinking of her safety. As for his last order...Varian knew that he couldn't control the Skill within him, and if there was even a chance that he could repeat the raw explosion of power that had decimated the camp of his captors a month ago, he didn't want Avari anywhere near him.
"Do you understand, my love? I cannot protect us both properly if I'm concerned for your well-being. My body and mind need to be focused on the fight and not on your safety." The stallion nuzzled her behind the ear in a wordless apology of his harsh words. He knew she wouldn't like it, but he also knew that she would see the logic in his words. "I love you far too much for anything to happen to you, Little Sparrow."
[ [ O O C : ] ]
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Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 3:13 pm
Tilting her head into his short nuzzle she felt her heart skip a beat at the small gesture of affection. Avari always prided herself on following her promises but she couldn't help the joy that tried to seep into her very being when he was around. Everything was always filled with such care and love, something she had never felt or experienced in her life, and here he was always offering it to her without question or request. Staring up at him, she nodded lightly at his statements though felt a twinge of unease rest inside of her. "Varian, you can-..." She began quickly her words trying to cut him off, but at hearing his tone harden she let her voice drop off to listen to him in silence once again. Shifting her weight on her hooves, she listened to the tapping of them on the floor ring in the cave as her ears laid back further into her mane with ever word. As much as she wanted to shake her head like a filly and tell him no to everything he'd asked, apart of her knew that what he said was essential. Yet there was one she was uncomfortable with.. "Leave you?" She wondered beneath the kind gesture he offered to her after he was done speaking. Ears lifting under the sweet caresses, though she felt them flick lightly as his warm words washed over them.
"I promise that I will listen to all you tell me Varian, but.." Leaning up she carefully nosed his cheek in affection, ever careful of her horn as she looked over his expression. He truly cared for her, and she understood why he said all he did yet it didn't feel right. Stepping closer to his chest, she turned her head to rest it against the side of his neck as her tail swayed uneasily behind her. "But I am not sure if I could give you my prose if you expect me to run blindly from you if there's a chance I'm leaving you to your death." Sighing softly she held herself close to him, as a shiver ran down her spine as she imagined a scene that had not happened yet. Even now in the cave she could feel her heart tighten and the start of tears stinging her eyes, though they would not fall. Drawing in a deep breath Avari let it out with a sigh and turned her head to look out towards the exit. "I will try to follow what you say of course."
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Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 3:53 pm
Code: ♞x x x xL o r dxxV a r i a nx x x x♞ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
x The stallion closed his azure eyes as he felt her cheek press into the curve of his neck. Gods, how he had missed her. All the blood and pain and death he had seen and experienced flowed out of him at her touch, the cold, aching knot in his stomach unraveling. But how could he explain to her that he himself might be a danger to her? He had to make her understand that if he lost control of his Skill, he needed her to run. Varian draped a wing over her back and collected his thoughts for a moment before speaking.
"Avari, when I was being held captive, something inside of my mind...broke, I guess is the best word for it. There were other Azrein from the King's Army who were being tortured in front of my very eyes, because my captors knew that I wouldn't break under pain, but if they hurt others because I wouldn't speak, that I would give up anything to make them stop." His eyes fluttered closed as he remembered; the hot, sweet scent of blood in his nostrils, the screams of his companions ripped from bloody throats as they were flayed alive or as the tendons were sliced in their legs. Varian began shaking, and he felt Avari's warm nuzzle on his jaw. He blew out a long breath and continued, his tone pained, guilty. "I was screaming at them to stop, that I would tell them where we were camped -- they were hurting foals, Little Sparrow --" Varian's knees buckled and he sank to the floor, head hanging as sobs wracked his body. "They were torturing children because I wouldn't speak, oh, Gods, what did I do?"
The stallion tipped over and lay flat on his side on the cool stone, eyes tightly shut as tears rolled down his cheeks. He felt Avari lower herself gracefully down beside him, and he rested his muzzle on her forelegs, letting out all of the anger and guilt and hate he had felt and hadn't even had a chance to process. After several minutes, he got control of himself, but chose to stay lying prone, his eyes closed so Avari wouldn't see the shame in them. "When I finally told them where the Army was, the humans who were working with the Agents laughed and -- and slit the throats of the other captors -- and they were the lucky ones. The others they -- they beat to death." The deity took a moment to control his emotions before going on. "When I saw that, the dam that kept me from accessing my Passive Skill just...broke. I had told them what they wanted to know, and they had promised to set my comrades free. I was so angry, and something within my mind snapped. I don't remember much of what happened, but the Skill poured out of my mind and sent fire racing through my veins, and I screamed and screamed, and the bars of my cage just bent and melted."
Varian opened his eyes, and they were dull, haunted. "I took to the skies, even with a broken hip and fractured wing, and I looked down at the Agents' camp and said 'burn'. Everything...burst into flame, and there was this -- this pressure behind my eyes, and a high-pitched keening in the air, and the whole camp exploded, like one of the Alchemist's bombs. Oh, Gods, Little Sparrow, what did I do?" Varian moaned and pulled his wings up, covering his face. How could she love him after this? He had killed twenty souls, and not by honorable combat, not because his own life was in immediate danger, but out of revenge and anger. That went against his very existence, and the memory of what he had done made him absolutely disgusted with himself. "That -- That is why I tell you to run far away from me if I tell you to, sweetling. I cannot...I can't control this accursed Skill, and if any harm came to you because of something I did, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."
The stallion grunted as he shifted, pulling himself up so he was laying properly on his legs, and turned his head to look down at his beloved. "I'm so sorry, Little Sparrow. I couldn't keep that in any longer; only Azreth knows what happened there that day, but I cannot keep secrets from you. I hope one day you can forgive me, little one." Varian hung his head, the bells on his antlers chiming almost sadly.
[ [ O O C : ] ]
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Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 5:04 pm
Tears gathering in her own eyes as he laid on his side at her hooves, a perfect image of guilt and pure agony for what he had experienced. Never had she had to comfort someone in her life, and here with Varian lost in his haunted memories she saw him in a different light. He had always been a protector to her, someone who was strong both in body and mind. She had never been able to imagine being a pillar for him. Yet as she moved to quietly settle down beside him, Avari moved to press herself against his side as she leaned her head down to quietly nose away his tears. Her heart tightened for the soul before her. Laying her head down to rest of his shoulder she allowed him to let out the pain that she could only imagine had been built up inside him as she whispered quiet words of soothing low under her breath, so low she couldn't imagine he'd even heard her over his sobs. Feeling quiet tears roll down her cheeks when he spoke once more, Avari felt her heart tighten sadly as her feeling towards humans proved to be true in his story. Even here they resided, causing pain to others for nothing more then a cruel display is dominance and power. Silently running the bottom of her chin along his shoulder, she let out a quiet sigh as she moved to rest her tail against his form.
The tale gave her shivers as she tried to imagine the powers he'd wielded in that moment, the same that had tried to make itself known earlier in the night. Lifting her head when his wing moved to shield his face, Avari waited for his words to stop. "You did nothing wrong Varian." She stated simply as his weight shifted to move him back to an upright position. Gaze settling on his face, she tried to offer him a soft smile before moving close to nose his chin back up when he hung his head. "Varian my heart, please don't let these things haunt you. There is nothing to forgive, you couldn't stop what those beasts were going to do. Had you broken and said the information earlier who's to say that they wouldn't have just continued with what they were doing earlier?" Pausing in her thoughts she drew in a quiet breath and let it out slowly, as her eyes shined with gathered tears though the honesty of her feeling were apparent within them. "You did the right thing in the end, they did a horrible thing to so many before your eyes and you had them pay. Had they continued to live they would have harmed countless more Azrein and possibly even your bonded." Leaning close she rested her nose against the side of his neck and let out another sigh. "I am proud of you, though I feel sad that you were forced to go though so much.. I am only sorry I couldn't have been help to you when you needed it."
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Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 5:53 pm
♞x x x xL o r dxxV a r i a nx x x x♞ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
x It had taken some time, but Varian had finally come to accept that Avari had indeed forgiven him, and that she truly believed that the stallion had done nothing wrong when he had been held captive. It felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from his withers and his heart, and once more he was the strong, solid Deity of Duty and Sacrifice. During the dark hours of the night, he and Avari had come together as one after so long apart, and words weren't needed between them for several hours. When they made love, it was as if all the pain and heartache Varian had felt during the campaign was purged from his very being, replaced with nothing but unconditional love and acceptance from his beloved. After they had lay together, Varian curled protectively around his sleeping mate, a wing draped over her back, and he had thanked every God who was listening for Avari.
To his surprise, the vision of the world faded out, and the Power of Foresight took hold of him, lifting him out of his body and hurtling him into the future. What he saw brought tears to his eyes, and when he came back to himself minutes later, he could have wept with joy. His and Avari's future held immense happiness, and Varian knew that she would be just as pleased as he with what he had seen. After spending the night with Avari, Varian had flown back to Avandere Castle the following morning and told his Bonded of their plan, and Azreth promised he would follow with a full Rank an hour after Varian and Avari departed. Varian also confided in Azreth what he had Seen in his future, and the boy had hugged his Bonded's neck, weeping openly with happiness for him. When he returned to Avari, they had taken their time, browsing their copse for food and drinking from the crystal stream before leaving in mid-morning.
They had been on the road for several hours, and the stallion was walking alongside Avari, a small smile on his lips, in wonderful spirits. He knew he should tell her, but he was having trouble with finding the right words. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you, Little Sparrow." Varian nosed her neck and led them off the Kingsroad, trotting over to a small copse of apple trees. He reared up on his hind legs and grabbed an apple in his teeth, passing it to Avari before grabbing himself one. "After you fell asleep last night, the Gods granted me a vision of Foresight, my love. I know we had not planned it this way, but it seems as if the Gods threw our plans right out the window, so to speak." Varian grinned widely and flicked an elk-like ear. "The Five Faces have decided that we are to be parents, Little Sparrow!"
The Deity lifted his nose to the sky and whinnied happily, prancing in place, his tail flagged and the bells on his antlers chiming merrily. His blue eyes shone with joy and wonder, and he trotted around Avari in a circle, stopping and touching his nose to her belly softly. "We are bringing children into the world, my sweetling! Gods, this is a wonderful gift, is it not?" Love, joy, and unmeasured happiness sang through the bond with his lifemate, and he knew that Avari was stunned, shocked into silence. His ears pressed against his skull as he waited for her response, hoping and praying that she would be just as happy as he was.
[ [ O O C : ] ]
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