Force-claiming is not allowed here. This is a peaceful, neutral area meant for socialising.
| Adrasteia You can't choose what stays and what fades away |
| The first few days after Clio had returned home with Proserpina, Adrasteia had almost clung to her mother’s side, making up for all the time that had been taken from them. The undernourished, hypervigilant state that her mother was in, and little Proserpina too, made her fretful, and every time the young filly startled at some sound, or shrank into Clio’s side, Adrasteia felt her throat tighten, and her eyes prickled with tears she could not bear to shed in their presence.
Worst of all, Briseis was still there, all alone. Carthage, her father, had promptly dispatched her older brother to attempt to bargain for the yearling filly’s freedom, but in the meantime, it was a kind of agony, leaving an ache so deep in Adrasteia’s chest that she couldn’t sleep at night. There were other losses to work through, too - for all of them. She and Carthage were strangers to Proserpina, and they had missed her birth, and so much of Briseis’ life too. And Adrasteia herself had matured into a young mare without her mother being there. Though Clio was absent no longer, there remained a distance between them that both were trying to bridge. And she believed all would be well - eventually - once Briseis was returned to them, and time healed whatever damaging effects lingered from the time kept as prisoners in the Lagoon. Until she was stirred from the first decent sleep she’d had in days to hear her mother comforting her little sister, who had worked herself into a state of anxiety over the sounds of the wind rippling through the leaves of their jungle home. The sorrow deep in the heart of Adrasteia had crackled like the lightning she could see on the distant horizon, out over the sea to the north, and it stirred up embers within her. Rage, rage is what she should feel, instead of fear. That was all she could think about, when she sought out Thane to let him know where she was going, lest her parents think something foul had befallen her. They had enough to worry about. And Adrasteia herself had decided that she wouldn’t be afraid anymore. It was a choice after all, was it not? She’d had her first taste of that last season, during her first attempt at swimming through the sea alone. Adrasteia’s confidence had fled from her after she’d found herself caught in a current. It had been lucky for her that another had been making the crossing at the same time. But after being deposited unceremoniously on a thin stretch of shoreline bordering the Savanna of Luthien, her crest throbbing painfully after the red and white mare had had the gall to drag her from the current by a mouthful of her ink-dark mane, Adrasteia had mustered up the courage to return to Atlantis on her own. She’d count herself fortunate if she never crossed paths with that wild spirited stranger again. And so, knowing now that she could make it, if she set her mind to it, and considering that perhaps in the wake of her mother and sister being snatched up by the Lagoon and held there so long, she had cleaved to her father and been hesitant to build her independence, the bay sabino mare drew a breath and took to the water, feeling her heart rattle against her ribs a moment, before she found her rhythm. As the sun continued to rise, she turned her face toward the Crossing, and did not once look back. Sometime later, Adrasteia was carefully picking her way north through the grassy meadow and beyond to the Falls. Though she had little memory of it, she had been born here, in the verdant valleys that were shadowed by the mountain, and Astrasteia rested by a trickling stream for a while, before continuing on. Thus far, she had met no-one, but as she continued, noting the sound of rushing water growing louder, she happened upon a mare of young mares, and pausing to gauge the interaction before approaching, she caught a few snippets of conversation that had that breathed life into the sparks of potential within her. "'Scuse me, um… Are you from the Peak?" she said instead of offering a greeting, wanting to confirm instead of assuming, since she had only gleaned a fraction of what had been shared between the pair. Looking between them - the spotted mare whose coat dripped with water and the silver-maned mare with her recovering injury - Adrasteia fought against the wave of awkwardness, and tried to maintain the facade of confidence that she’d assumed the moment she had approached them without hesitation. "Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, or-or listen in on your conversation," Adrasteia stumbled a little over her words, but pressed on, with only a tilt of her dark rimmed ears giving her away. "I’ve come from Atlantis to see it for myself," she went on to explain, and her blue eyes shifted between them, bright and hopeful. "When you return, can I go with you? Please." For all of her life, Adrasteia felt as if she’d been on the move - from the Falls, to Salem, to Atlantis. But here, now, she felt on the cusp of finding somewhere that she might feel like she truly belonged. A place to set down roots, to choose bravery over fear and to let herself be shaped into someone capable of protecting others, instead of feeling helpless. |