Khar’pern is not some foolish filly or inexperienced leader. For seasons, she managed to lead the Peak and its mares, despite the turmoil and unrest that continued to grow within her breast. It had been one of the darkest times of her life, but between Khyber’s sudden thrust into her life and Ashteroth’s continued reassurances, the dappled mare managed to claw her way back from the deep recesses of darkness and up to the heights of the peaks once more. Khar’pern returned to herself and what she stood for. She was a warrior. A huntress. A shieldmaiden for the defenseless, and that is what she would be now.

’...Does it really matter if it was an accident….’ his words caused her fluted lobes to twitch in frustration. Sharp eyes glanced at his handsome face as they continued on up the hillock towards the meadow where she had left the children under the protective guard of Ashteroth and her… companion. What transpired between the pair, Khar did not know, and Ash had not shared with her. Like her…. Affection for Khyber was something unspoken between the two, and as far as Khar was concerned, it would remain that way.



’...you ask for too much.’ The last of his words draw her to a sudden halt. Anger flashes in the ice of her gaze as she pivots to face him with flared nostrils. ” I am asking too much?!?” she proclaims in disbelief, her raven whipcord lashing audibly against her supple flanks as the irritation at his sharp tones grows to a boiling point. How could she find him so attractive and equally as infuriating at the same time? ”You bachelor stallions continue to haunt our borders and steal away those who have come here for protection from the likes of YOU.” she snarls. ”You continue to force your bloodties on us, on all the herds, and demand fealty with the threat of punishment. What did you really expect when electing an untrained General? Did you think yourself so untouchable that a seasoned valkyrie would bluff instead of fight when attacked? Albeit Marceline could have gone about things differently, she did it to save me… save. Me. from. YOU.” she snaps, exhaling a hard breath in an attempt to rein back in her frustration and rising anger.

For a moment, she let the silence linger between them, focusing on evening out her breathing instead of lashing out with tooth and hoof like all transactions between herself and Khyber usually ended up. Neither of them was ready for that, not with wounds with bleeding barely staunched by fresh scabs. The cool, crisp, moutain zephyr grounds her as the exotic woman turns her face to the billowing breeze. The sharpness of the wind’s icy bite staunches the boiling heat in her veins, and the rose-colored mare closes her eyes for a moment, trying to feel nothing beyond the mountain’s touch. Mother’s embrace. Encouragement. This… this was something she could do. This… this was her calling. She was meant to be the Prime Minister of the Valkeries and, like the phoenix, bring them from the ashes of defeat and back to their former glory.



”You act as though the Lagoon bachelors are infallible. As if they have not been servers of just as much strife as the sisters. Tit-for-tat Khyber, that is what we have come down to, and you know it.” she murmured, doing her best to hold the bite from her words. Her gaze flickers open as she turns again to face him, her eyes empty of emotion. ”Solas will be whatever you make him to become. He has experienced the love and devotion of a mother… but he does not belong in the mountains here. I… I cannot teach him the things he needs to know…” Her words drift into silence as memories of Diccon and the pain at his loss resurface. She would not make that same mistake with Solas. Not this time.



”I do not ask for a permanent ceasefire because you and I both know it will never happen.” This time, there was clear amusement in her voice, dry and humorless, but amusement nonetheless. Raven-tipped ears flex forward as she inhales calmly. ”If the roles were reversed, I would accept. For the benefit of both clans, not for my own pride… I would do what must be done. I would not be afraid to stand for what I believe in.” she quips, arching a single brow at him before starting forward again, leaving him to stay behind or catch up and meet his son. She would not force him even though from the lengths he went through to keep her in the Lagoon, she feels certain he will join to meet his newest prodigy.




____________



Khar’pern slipped from beneath the protective branches of a towering conifer tree, her silver gaze immediately finding Ryvar’s mahogany form standing rigidly above the slumbering black and white colt stretched out at her feet. The sight clenches at the soft edges of her soul, but she refuses to acknowledge it. Refuses to believe these days could last more than the fleeting hours they were given. The firm press of her ashen lips softened as she met her daughter’s questioning glance with a gentle nod.



The young mahogany mare takes a sidling step backward, glancing past her mother to the stallion she can only assume is her sire. Her auburn gaze is hard, unyielding, and perhaps a bit judgmental as she studies him for the first time, long past the days of hoping for the pretty little family image that Toni used to brag about or that she watched Ashteroth and her mate share with their children. Her shoulders square as the young mare tilts her small chin forward and remains the silent, observant watcher.



Khar’pern does not try to correct her daughter, nor does she feel the need. Instead, she halts before her slumbering son and bends her sleek neck to let ashen labrums ruffle the soft hairs of his growing black and white mane. ”Solas… awaken. You have a visitor.” she murmured, her voice soft and almost tender as she nuzzled the child’s sun-warmed cheek until his silvery eyes fluttered open and focused on her face.



A large yawn parted his lips as Solas stretched out his legs and fixed her with a warm smile. ”Amma? You’re back already?…Who?” he asks, his questions tumbling one over the other as he struggles to sit up and glance around curiously.



Khar’pern smiles warmly at her son, and with a quick, warning glance at her stoic daughter, she turns her attention back to Solas, ”Your father has come for a… visit. He wanted to meet you.” she murmured, turning her guarded gaze back to Khyber expectantly.

Khar'pern

The jungle is dark but full of diamonds;