that's where i find peace; Posted on April 22, 2022 at 07:07:44 AM by charybdis
where the black sand meets the raging seas
Another wandering soul joined them before the pale-faced grullo had time to mull over her words and give her the answers she sought. In truth, Charybdis was just grateful to see another soul emerging from the dense jungle of the Ridge. The words this second stranger offered her though, gave her reason for pause. She tried to remember if she’d met him before, but judging by the manner of his approach, the lack of familiarity in his eyes when she looked at him and the calculated distance he’d left between them, she surmised that they had not spoken before. But the names upon his lips - they were known and familiar to Charybdis. Or at least, the first one was.
“I know Faolain’s gone. I wait for ‘er. But ‘Ades?” Hades. Hades. The name was frustratingly familiar, though Charybdis had never spoken it before. She drifted in thought for several long moments, and it came to her, like flotsam from the wreck of the life she’d lived before, washing ashore in her memory. “ ‘im been on a journey.” The half-blind mare remembered meeting the voiceless stallion, making him a promise, to come back for him, and for Faolain. For the rivers that ran wild.
And Charybdis had come back, but all of them were gone, now. Beyond her reach.
“You know dem?” The question slipped out quick and quiet, husky around the edges. She studied the face of the red stallion, finding so much there to remind her of that boy who burned in silence, finding so much unfamiliar and unknown. How did this one know them; Faolain and Hades? “I am Charybdis, and if you want, you can wait wit’ me.” A tired, fleeting smile quirked at the edges of her mouth.
Turning her attention back to the grullo, who’d introduced himself as a neighbour, as King of the Shore to the southwest. How intriguing. In time, Charybdis would seek to learn more of him, and his home, and perhaps how they might become united as allies. “Fritjof, I am glad to meet you,” the red mantled mare murmured, genuine warmth flickering in her eyes. But the wind that rolled inland from the ocean had shifted, and Charybdis knew well enough what that meant, even without having sunlight to see the angry clouds gathering on the horizon.
To the both of them, Charybdis spoke now. “Dere soon be a storm comin’ in off de sea. I take to de trees. Please, come, be safe.” And, not the sort to linger once her mind was made up (especially when it came to the threats of storms from the sea), Charybdis turned and made her way inland, not so much dismissing both stallions as leaving them to make up their minds as to what they wanted to do, for Charybdis was no Queen to make demands of them. But, she made sure to keep her pace steady, so that, if either or both chose to follow her, she would not lose them in the darkness of the night.