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@spellswoven    mockery suits you poorly.   you wear insolence as though it were a crown,   but all i see is a woman too foolish to know the danger of her own tongue.    remember where you stand,   witch——you’re no longer in the presence of one of your forest spirits who mistake arrogance for courage.

@WLVNBORN     you rose your fist to me first,   what did you expect from me?

@draqeirs  you do not scare me, aemond.  [whatever game they were playing—whether it was the same or far different,  the role of prey was vacant.    they were neither predator or prey but both violent animals—each circling the other in search of a weakness]    you call yourself a dragon—i believe it.  but even dragons die,  and it is the /sun/ who decides when their flesh rots—who decides when scavengers are allowed to feast until they are of bone and memory.  with you or without you i will achieve my goal.   i /will/ see the pretender who sit’s on my father’s throne absent of his life. and if i must fight against you next,  i will.   [the cold wind blew harshly against her back.  ice that felt like little knives grazed her skin,  melting on the reddened cheeks of her face.  the fire catches her eyes—golden-brown.  green stared right back at her.  tempting him just as much as he tempted her.  it almost has her smiling.  until he releases her,   and she steps further away ]   do not tell me what loyalty costs,   esh kedjaaní (great conqueror)   … i know it well.    it matters not if you will stand by my side 

 [he leans in,   his voice nothing higher than a whisper as the edges of their breaths tangle together in the cold.   he almost hesitates,   but he releases her wrist—slowly,   deliberately——as though to remind her that mercy,  too,  was something he controlled]    but if it pleases you,   i could always change my allegiance. perhaps the usurper will throw that feast you spoke of.  and when the fire catches the northern sky,   you’ll finally understand what loyalty costs

@BEOWULFS    [the snow whispered beneath her boots as she turned away from the kiss,   cloak snapping behind her in the wind like a dark banner.   she’d meant to end it there——with a kiss sharp enough to draw blood,   a mockery dressed as farewell.    his lips are still warm from the kiss when she turns to leave,   the wind tugging at her cloak——but his hand catches her wrist before she can take a single step.   it was as if he completely disregarded her impulsive decision to kiss him,  maybe he’d think about it later.   he drags her back with a force that betrayed the calm in his voice,   the air between them turned thin.    her breath,   sharp from the cold,   ghosted against his jaw.    the distant flames behind him cast his face in shifting light——half shadow,   half molten gold.    unmasked,   he looked less a king and more a wolf too long starved of warmth]    so that’s your game,  you’d rather see me fight beside your cousin than admit you need saving.   [his thumb brushed against her pulse,   the motion slow and cruelly knowing as the only distance between their bodies was the firm grasp he held on her wrist.   his expression didn’t change,   however his hand tightened,   the faint grind of rings against her flesh]   you think it makes you strong to sneer, to pretend his cause tempts me. but i’ve seen the way your men look to you when you pass. they’re running out of faith, and you—   [a pause,  his gaze raking over her,   slow,   almost pitying]   —you’re running out of time.   be careful,   there’s a difference between pride and suicide.   you think i came here for him?    the usurper hides behind walls and titles——he’s never seen the world burn from the back of a dragon. 

@dunami     i’ve only been ill twice in my life.   one as a child and the other during my..  conquest of the south,   a fever will not kill me—   i don’t think.   [despite his verbal protest,  he still nodded ever so slightly as if he was a young boy again being lectured by his own mother.   the only difference between the two is the late queen could make her son cower with his tail between his legs with just a glance,  never mind her words.   she had moved first,   so he took a bigger stride or two to catch up with her eager steps]    where are you taking me,   anyways?

@draqeirs  and still,  you dress ignorantly.   [if there had been a smile on malren’s face, it leaves just as quickly as it came.  she smoothed out the rogue furs and plucks the thin ones.   in some way she wondered if this how she would be if her child had lived.  it was female of course yet it meant no difference to her.    she assumed that child that never had a chance to grow was in the form of man——her son she did not birth]   i will call you much worse if you dare to catch a fever,     do you understand?  good.   let’s keep moving. 

@dunami     i’m well aware of the..  drastic change of climate.  [he would mutter under his breath,   yet nonetheless would move his hand that had been absentmindedly fiddling with the strap of his cloak.  once readjusted,  he rolls his shoulders back so the weight of his furs draped comfortably around his broad frame]   brat from summer..   has anyone told you how /colorful/ you are with your words?

@baresteeth      well,    that seems to be the way of things.    but yes,   we are expecting another heir

@draqeirs,       for someone who had been so rude from the beginning, you’d think you would feel more apologetic. at least for a second longer.

@ivampsuckyerblood       right..   my apologies.   yet i also don’t give a damn what you are.

but i’m a man.

@draqeirs,         i believe i’m free to walk where i please. this is only a nature trail, after all. unless that’s off limits now too—though it’s strange.

@odetosin      quite frankly,   there is.    you have no business here.

@draqeirs 
            
            “Refuge from what, exactly?”

@princessloss       well..    we are in the woods,    but i’m merely seeking refuge for the night.   

@townsprincess       perhaps it’s because i’m merely passing through.

@draqeirs,      we won’t give the men dragons.  [she knew exactly what he meant.  it was brought to her a hundred times by the mesyrs and malren amongst that sisterhood as well.  even though they stood behind her on this thought,   it was something to keep her eyes open for and her mind constantly thinking.   her nails tapped once against the polished ruby wood of the table.    then she stands,   steps closing the distance between her and the great window of the study. there, was her youngest son—-and his dragon who was much bigger now, engaging in a game of fetch.]     we’ll give it to the children.   [it’s spoken aloud as she thinks,    enough for only her to here.  and when that seed is planted in her heart. she whips around beaming]    the children.      men are too corrupt—even the women, if we give them to the adults it will surely be a disaster but if we start with the children..  and be strict with their learning—they may as well be the first generation in ten thousand years to have dragons and then in time their children and by extension the children of those children.    

@likeholy      [his jaw tightens,   his gaze drifting to the empty sky as if envisioning it teeming with dragons once more.    however he studies her carefully,   a dark yet contemplative gleam within his gaze.   when he finally speaks up,   his voice is measured with both intrigue and warning]    you’re asking me to hand fire and fury to those who’ve never known power.   commoners with dragons..    it’s a risk,    leanna. one that could burn us all.     give a man a dragon,     and he’ll think himself a king.    give a hundred men dragons,    and you’ll find yourself surrounded by fools with flames and ambition.    [he pauses,   eyes searching hers.   the subtle resolve in her expression softens something in him.   so his tone shifts,   more controlled and resigned with utmost support despite his own weariness]    but—    if this is how you wish to see your—   /our/  home flourish with dragons once again,   then so be it,   and i will do whatever you ask of me.    but know this.    once you teach a man to fly,   you can’t make him forget the sky.

@draqeirs ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀[perhaps it was far fetched. enlightened by the histories of when there were more like him and herself.  families—powerful ones,    each of them on the backs of dragons.    it made her wonder what life was like before the civil war,  how drakael was when the dragons populated the skies like birds.  leanna wanted that.   she wanted her home to be restored to it’s proper glory—the right way, and with the right teaching.]   ignore the noble houses.       i think,    we should start with the commoners—at least a good number as a test.