Their number went from two, to three. Bane shifts to the side on her ledge, grateful that it’s broad. There was space for them. They could all stand together, shoulder to shoulder, if necessary. Two flashy painted mares, and Bane beside them. She was relaxed where she stood, weight over one hip. Oswin. The introduction comes to a nod from Bane. Oswin and Roisin. Bane would hold onto those names. It was the first step in writing the next chapter of the Peak, was it not? “You don’t need to apologize.”

Oswin, born from the Luthien. The Peak was calling them home. A slight smile plays on Bane’s lips. Maybe that’s why she had returned home as well, the pull from this place. “The tides are turning again, and it’s best that we’re at the heart of it.” We. Bane is a member of the collective whole again. It invigorates her. A certain confidence settles over her as well, and she’s pleased.

I can’t imagine what that was like, and Bane doesn’t want to shatter any illusion to the child. Anath was… a less than ideal mother. There was no sugar coating that. Roisin was born on the islands as well, the Atlantis. Her energy is contagious, and she was pleased with that. “You do get used to the mountain climbing,” her tone is calm, even.

Roisin explained the state of the Peak, and Bane isn’t all that surprised. It seemed that the numbers would be condemned to rise and fall with the tides. And the Lagoon, always a formidable foe. Bane tries not to smirk openly, as the young woman seems deeply troubled by the actions… keeping the men prisoner. Yeah, that sounded about right. They’d been going in circles like that for as long as Bane remembers.

A war. “I must have already been away,” her words are quiet, reflective. She remembers well the war that had changed her mother, the one that was… well, on the list of things that Anath didn’t speak of often. Roisin asks about the before times. Bane’s gaze flickers out over the Peak, and to the horizon. That was… that was a question.

“My mother was here very shortly after the Peak was founded, barely a child when she arrived. She trained under the first general, Cudgel. Corinth was the prime minister in those days. Early on, they didn’t have a codebreaker. She’d say they were strong, that there were many of them. There were no mares that led their own herds, back in those days, and that’s one of the things that made the Peak so special.” Bane’s gaze is far off, speaking of things from far before her own birth. Her mother had told her the stories of the old days… maybe one of the very few things Anath had given her. Bane takes a breath before continuing.

“My mother Anath was the general when I was born, and her best friend Black Heart Machine was the codebreaker. The prime minister was a broad woman, strong, with spots. She’s called Impazienza… a part of me hoped she’d still be here, but at my age that’s probably silly.” Well, Roisin had asked, right? How things had been when Bane was a child, those memories were strange, yet oddly bright. She thinks kindly of the village that had raised her as a child. “The numbers would rise and fall like the sea. It was never quite consistent, but it seems that anyone who left would always come back. Eventually, they all came home. I guess we’re keeping up the pattern,” Bane’s gaze flickered to Oswin.

They were shadows at a campfire, very real but somewhere still far away. “My half brother was the boss of the Lagoon for a short time, and then the man that would be my father. The relationship between the Peak and the Lagoon has always been turbulent, with deep connections and strong feelings.” It’s a diplomatic way for her to put it, at least. There’s a small glimmer in Bane’s eye, reflecting on it all. She takes a moment to realize how much she’s spoken. It’s more words than have come directly from the mare in a very, very long time.

A soft sigh in her lungs, gaze flickering between the two mares beside her. The Peak’s history, or at least as much as she knew of it. “What about you, Oswin?” Yes, she’d pass the torch to the other older mare, and hope that her story was just as long. Bane doesn’t know how large the gap in timelines is, but it would be good enough. An oral history.

Anath x Thane