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 Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 10:58 am
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Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:10 am
XXXXXX[Solstice]
The mare had been exceptionally tenacious, and to this day the stallion wasn't entirely sure of how she'd managed to track him down. He'd travelled a considerable distance since they had met one another, in fact he'd done so deliberately, if only to spare the starstruck mare from heartache. He was old enough and wizened enough to know by now that the mare was smitten, and while he had done nothing to encourage this, she had fallen for him in her own right too. In part he blamed his younger sister for exposure to the peculiar phoenix, had he not gone to visit her he would have never stumbled upon Tranquility, but such was life...
However, he had now discovered that he was between a rock and a hard place, for the distance he had managed to travel between the mare's mountain home and here had been staggering and she had still find him. It gave great cause for concern, he had known of attached stallions and mares and they often caused a great deal of trouble - now that he was faced with his own attached mare he wasn't sure how to handle her. He could be honest of course, he had not expected to see her and nor did he want her company, but he had also been raised to be compassionate and considerate.
A rock and a hard place...that was where he was.
Consequently he released a sigh, raking a wing through his hair as he regarded the doe eyed female who was now bounding towards him with an expression akin to glee. Regardless of compassion and manners, he was going to have to n** this in the bud as soon as possible. He had no time to entertain the whims of a mare and he certainly had no time to be shooing one away, especially whenever she could get herself killed if she kept pursuing him!
Urgh, but had someone not told him she was coddled by her parents to the extent she wasn't allowed to explore?
Well where were those parents now?
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Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:02 pm
XXXXXX[Tranquility]
Tranquility wasn't sure if it had been a miraculous stroke of luck or if her mother was simply that good. The young mare, scarcely into her adult years, had become rather smitten with the wandering prince and when he had left she had become rather deflated. While she had just been catering to her own fantasy, she hadn't believed that anything more would come of it until her mother latched on to the idea and got the details out of her. No sooner had her daughter uttered the magical words than Yei had decided that the following should happen:
- They should locate this prince post haste.
- They should make him realise that Tranquility was the one for him.
Alas, her mother had met considerable resistance from her father who urged caution and expressed concern over Tranquility's choice of suitor. After all, she had known him all of an hour or so while he wandered through their territory, and more vitally, how was anyone to know that this suitor would be receptive to Lilli. Unsurprisingly, Grencia had been dismissed by Yei, and as a mare who had always been ruled by her heart, she had believed that no one could resist her daughter. Thus, she had gathered up her wits, grabbed her daughter and they had both embarked on a journey to locate this fabled prince.
At first the trail had been cold and her mother had struggled a great deal to find the information she needed, but the moment she had acquired a shrivel of information she was hot on his trail. No sooner has she picked up one track, than she had picked up another, and now there he was...standing no more than fifty or so meters ahead of her. Lilli had been beyond pleasantly surprised at her mother's success, and despite the exhaustion she felt in her legs, the young mare had obediently closed the distance between the two while her mother waited behind.
It was for this reason that the mare now drew to a halt, her breaths shallow and short due to her lack of fitness, yet the warm smile on her lips belied that such a physical condition was unimportant to her.
"Solstice!" she gasped and tilted her head to the side. "You left without saying goodbye."
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Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:13 pm
XXXXXX[Solstice]
If she had been grounded he would have taken the cowards way out and made a swift exit by air. If she had been grounded he also would have flown for so many miles that he wouldn't leave a trail within a thousand mile radius if it was the last thing he ever did. It took all of his self restraint not to stare at the mare in horror as she drew nearer, especially when the naive expression appeared upon her features and emphasised just how oblivious she was. In all his days he had never encountered a mare who didn't get the message, he'd said hello, conversed for an hour as he walked and then he had left, at no point had he invited her to come after him.
...And he was fairly certain that no one in their right mind would travel this far to say 'goodbye' to him either. His expression was incredulous, his lips parting in a small gape of surprise as he continued to regard the red mare. It was rare that he was frozen in his tracks, rare that he had nothing to say, and even more extraordinary that he hadn't encountered a situation like this during all of his travels. Give her chains, give her shackles, give her ropes or vines and she would be something akin to a harpy.
It was positively terrifying and she had no idea.
"Tranquility," he offered at last, a flat statement as he found his voice and furrowed his brow. "You have travelled a long way for such a trivial matter," he continued, though he had the sneaking suspicion he hadn't emphasised how trivial it was enough.
"I can only assume that you had other matters to attend to in the lowlands, evidently we live in such a small world, if we have bumped into one another so soon..."
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Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:32 pm
XXXXXX[Tranquility]
There was something wrong, Tranquility couldn't put her hoof on it precisely, but something was definitely off whenever it came to the stallion. Sadly, the young mare was simply too naive and sheltered to realise that it was her that was causing such discomfort. Instead, she did the only thing that she knew how to do and offered him a slightly warmer smile, temporarily pushing the sense of doubt to the back of her mind. After all her mother had said that this was the right thing to do, that he was her prince charming and he would eventually see that, she just needed to let him see her more, right?
"It was rather a long way," she agreed after a few moments, glancing over her shoulder to catch sight of the peaks that she called home. Now that she had taken the time to really look at them, the mare was acutely aware that she had travelled and incredible distance. Her lips parted in momentary surprise and she returned her attention to Solstice, though what she uttered next was mostly to herself. "Oh my, no wonder my legs are so sore..."
Alas, it was rude for her to enter a world of her own thoughts and as a consequence she shook her head and returned to the topic of conversation, or lackthereof, she really wished she could work out what the problem was.
"I came down with my mother, she's very familiar with these lands," she explained and tilted her head to the side. "She was very enthusiastic, she hasn't been down in such a long time..." she paused and furrowed a brow. "You were very hard for her to find though, you must be very good at preventing dangerous entities from seeking you out."
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Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:43 pm
XXXXXX[Solstice]
He begged to differ on that score - if he had been found by her mother then it was clear that he wasn't doing a good enough job. More to the point, what in the name of all that was holy was her mother thinking in encouraging her to follow him. Were they all psychotic, had Lilli woven a merry little tale that had encouraged her mother to pursue him. Oh by the gods had she declared he'd dishonoured her and now it was his duty to make amends? He would not be so uncouth to call that out completely but he wasn't about to be shackled due to a child's fantasy!
Ah, but she had all but shattered what little hope he had had when he assumed this was all merely a coincidence and she had been down her for other personal business. By the sound of things, Lilli had made things completely clear, she had come down here for him, and for a rather ridiculous reason. He could do nothing more than shake his head as he attempted to expel the surprise from his brain, his lips eventually closing and pressing into a thing line. Slowly but surely he was gathering his wits, but his temper was also creeping to the fore with it and that was never a good sign.
...He'd only lost his temper once and that had not been pretty.
"I do endeavour to keep myself out of harms way, yes," he agreed slowly and lifted a brow. "Though I wouldn't call all those I wish to avoid 'dangerous', the vast majority are simply undesirable or problematic," he stated. His frown deepened and then at last the stallion saw no reason in hiding his discontent, small talk would lead him no where and in the end he would only lead her on. She seemed the sort to read in to things, to misunderstand him and things would only get worse if he remained so cordial.
"Might I advise you that it is of poor form to pursue someone over a great distance just to say 'goodbye'," he stated coolly and shook his head. "Particularly when you have no noted attachment or connection to that individual..."
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Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 2:59 pm
XXXXXX[Tranquility]
"Particularly when you have no noted attachment or connection to that individual..."
Wait, what?
Tranquility had been prepared to respond to him, bit in those moments she became acutely aware of the underlying current in his remarks. He hadn't been rude, but there was a harshness to his tone that belied that something was amiss. Admittedly there had been something out of place from the very beginning but now it seemed so much clearer. The way the stallion was looking at her made it perfectly obvious that he was referring to her, and when coupled with what he had to say, she felt the sting of humiliation and embarrassment. After all, had her mother not said that he simply needed more time with her to see that they were a match?
He quite obviously disagreed, in fact, he had decided not to mince words and simply to state it. So that was why he had regarded her so curiously, and that was why he was so 'off' with her. He hadn't wanted to see her, he hadn't regretted saying goodbye, he had simply been passing through and she had let her mother read in to things too much...or perhaps she had read into them and simply embellished to the point her mother bought it. It all seemed rather plausible.
"I..." she took a breath as she considered how best to respond and then shook her head, in truth, there didn't seem to be any real way to respond to this without losing some of her dignity. "I see," she said at last and bowed her head, peering at her feet with renewed interest. "I'm sorry I had no idea that I fell into the category of undesirable, I had thought that we were -" she paused again.
"But no, after only a few hours, perhaps not. Friendships are evidently hard to craft between some people."
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Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 3:24 pm
XXXXXX[Solstice]
Well she hadn't reacted quite as dramatically as he had anticipated based on the circumstances. To be perfectly honest she had been very calm and considerate in her responses, though her face belied some element of shock. Couple with embarrassment, he almost felt sorry for her. Nevertheless on occasions he had to be cruel to be kind and as a consequence he had to finish what he had started by making it explicitly clear that they were not friends - two hours was not enough to strike up a friendship with him... Well, unless you were Francesca but she had saved him from quicksand.
"Correct," he replied smoothly and shook his head. Really he should be grateful to his father, his father's imperial and otherwise unreadable expressions had their uses sometimes. Admittedly Solstice had always been suitably more approachable than his father, but on this occasion he needed to be just as hostile. "One would say that at best, we are acquaintances, and barely that if I were to be honest," he shook his head and released a wearied sigh. "Not nearly enough to warrant a farewell on this scale, I should think that you may wish to re-evaluate your etiquette in the given circumstances."
Urgh, but he felt so impolite and inconsiderate, alas if it needed to be done, then he would do it.
"Now if you would excuse me I intend to take my leave and I should hope that we do not encounter one another unexpectedly again," he finished.
With his piece said and guilt suitably riddling his gut, the stallion turned on his heels and walked away, taking careful measure not to look behind him...
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Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 5:05 pm
XXXXXX[Tranquility]
Her mother had been wrong, so very wrong, and as melodramatic as it might have seemed to an onlooker, his words cut through her like knives. How she made her friends seemed to be very different than his, how she also made her acquaintances appeared to be different as well. Perhaps she had misread, perhaps she had allowed certain phrases and smiles to mean more than they had and as such she had been left in this position; but at this time she had been sure that it had all been so genuine.
Ah, but Yei had promised that he only needed to look at her and speak to her a little more to know, and the results were explicit. Solstice wanted nothing to do with her and he had stated very plainly that he had no desire to see her again either. Alas, the young mare had allowed her dream to lead her too much, and too naive to the explicit technicalities of courtship, she had misread the signals. Consequently she had led her on a wild goose chase, but it would take some time for Tranquility to recognise her own errors.
With her lips pursing into a thin line in order to maintain her dignity, the mare took a few steps back, and then finally wandered back to her mother. With her expression as grim as it was, Yei didn't need to request further details from her child and with a small sigh, she simply turned towards home.
...Yes, her mother had misjudged.
But in the months that followed Tranquility would learn that she, herself, had embellished things somewhat and brought some of this on herself.
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