Common

A strange sort of numbness settled over Rook’s thoughts when her twin ploughed on with all the grace of a stampeding bull. Perhaps it was only grief speaking. Perhaps exhaustion. Yet she could not shake the unease that settled in her chest at the prospect of accompanying this stranger home. It didn’t help that his answers had only bred more questions. Why wasn’t he worried about another stallion in his home? Why had he offered a boon while asking essentially nothing in return?

Why did he speak his name like it should mean something to them - two newcomers whose knowledge of this land extended no further than what he’d told them?

“An impressive title,” the mare observed, her head briefly dipping in respect. “I had not expected that the first native I’d meet here would be so… important.” An unspoken question lifted the last syllables of her speech upward and stretched them slightly. Why? it said between the pleasantries. But Rook knew better than to truly ask. Her father - a King in his own right - never deigned to explain himself to those beneath them.

And she suspected any answer he did give would contain only half truth at most.

Unlike his sibling, Jester could see the shadows stirring behind Lucifer’s eyes. He could not know what had put them there, but he recognized the effort of keeping a part of oneself contained. The strain of hiding something behind a smile. The small hesitations that indicated words were being weighed before they were spoken. It made it harder to listen to the note of caution buried within Rook’s words.

How could he feel anything but empathy for someone who seemed so quietly wounded?

“It seems that we are well met, Lucifer. My sister and I are fortunate to have crossed paths with you.” There was only sincerity in his voice - the suspicion that colored Rook’s words was absent in him. Oh, Jester still wondered whether it was truly luck that had led to the dark creature finding them here. And he did not doubt that there was some motive beyond kindness that prompted the stallion’s offer. But what harm could there be in entrusting themselves to a King? It would take them seasons to learn on their own what he could likely teach them in a single day.

A faint frown twisted the corner of Rook’s lips at those words, but the mare didn’t argue. Perhaps she was being unfair. It was far more likely that Lucifer hoped they would choose to stay with him than that he intended to do them any harm. And as it seemed that Jester, at least, had chosen to trust the stranger - could she do any less? She hadn’t come this far from home at her twin’s side only to turn away from him now.

“I am called Rook,” she volunteered. It was the closest she could offer to her brother’s trust. By the way he had shared his own, names seemed to carry a special weight with this King. Giving him her own showed willingness to meet him where he stood, whatever her doubts might be.

“My brother and I had a long swim to reach this place. But if you can give us a little longer to rest, then we will follow you to your Dunes.”

JESTER & ROOK
this is not where our story ends