Somehow, he always found himself gravitating towards water. Seeking out it's calming effects in hopes that might calm the turmoil inside him as well. Unfortunately, it didn't often work for him. Something about this place was supposed to be Sacred, the sacred falls they called it. Yet for the life of him he couldn't figure out what about this place made it sacred besides the astonishing view of the waterfall.

He hadn't even realized her had been pacing till he had come to a stop, teal eyes drawn to the edge of the water. Blinking away the reflection of his father in the water, quickly replacing it with his own reflection. He felt haunted. Haunted by the past he was trying so hard to run away from and every turn he was reminded of him. Even Fearne had compared him to his father, that had stung in a way he hadn't expected. Orei wanted to be more, do more, yet at every turn it was all the same.

He blows out a breath, eyes closed, centering himself back on the present. Orei was desperate to be rid of the memories, but for now he only hoped for a distraction.

"Speech."
@Genesis

art by moogle, code by corvus

Following her--quite literally--fruitful adventures with Atalanta, Genesis had heeded her warning to wash her paws in running water to scrub away the juices from the poisonous berries they had harvested. Castor bean. Castor bean. The girl was not even certain that she would ever need the information she had learned, but at the same time, she was not about to squander a lesson by failing to commit any teachings to memory. If such information had been useful to her mother, then it was for good reason.

She was at the water's edge, licking her paws dry before the winter air could stiffen them or her fur--I suppose I'll find out if I've washed well enough, she mused to herself--when movement caught her attention from the corner of her gaze. Pausing, she lifted and turned her head toward the source, only to practically jump to her feet at the sight. "Orei?"

Whether she meant it for herself or for him to hear Genesis was not sure, but it was said with enough strength to capture him nonetheless. As she padded toward him, she felt almost like a stranger, carrying herself with a little more confidence and willfully occupying just a little more space than when they had first met. However, there was still an air of caution about her as she drew nearer and noticed a familiar tension behind his eyes. Still, the most recent memory she had of him being in the throes of battle seemed to fool her now. Aside from whatever storm wrought havoc in his head, @Orei appeared largely unscathed. She sighed with relief.

"I'm glad to see you again...and to see you're okay." She realized, though, that it did not add up. "I mean I...I saw you. At the Lagoon." At first her words were backed by a twinge of guilt that she had been unable to jump to his aid, but the more she spoke, and the more she took him in, the more her guilt mixed with confusion. "You were fighting." So why, or how, had he made it out without a scratch?

code by scorpixia♡︎

Orei's head turns sharply in response to genesis, features relaxing into an easy smile as she approached. "Genesis." He responds warmly, moving towards her without caution. Needless to say, he was glad to see her, so much had changed since their initial meeting. She had been at the war in the Lagoon, not fighting on either side, but there. He had been too distracted to acknowledge her then, but he was glad to see she seemed to be unharmed.

As if she could read his thoughts, the topic of the Lagoon was brought up. "It was supposed to be wedding of one of my pride mates." He says with a disbelieving chuckle, that it was truly supposed to be a wedding that had ended up quickly turning sour and it wasn't because of a bridezilla. "I saw you too, but you didn't seem to be involved." Prodding to see if she indeed was on neither side.

"Ahh, yes. I challenged for my sister." Orei explains, "Aneistri. She was a member of the Brook, where we were born, and on the side that crashed the wedding." He continues, it had unfortunately become more trouble than he had expected. She had wanted to stay without realizing what her pride was fighting for. He simply wanted her with him, where he could keep her safe. It was a selfish decision, he knew it, but he didn't regret it.

"She wasn't very happy about me bringing her to the Summit." He finished, ears folding down against his mane. He didn't regret it, but that didn't mean he didn't feel bad about not giving her the choice.


"Speech."
@Genesis

art by moogle, code by corvus

A wedding?

Genesis' gaze dimmed with disbelief, disgust, disappointment as those words set in. How could a celebration of union have evolved into such a violent mess of division? Of all the friends she had made since her arrival here in Amaryllis, all of them had been on that battlefield in one form or another, whether as an onlooker or as an aggressor. Even @Orei, whom she could recall being the only one on the offensive, though he was quick to explain he was on the side of the alleged couple-to-be. It was hard for her to wrap her head around, but she was just thankful she had not seen any of them harmed.

And eventually, she would learn that such involvement was hardly ever something to gawk at. After all, in all her worry, she too had ended up in the middle of it all. "But you didn't seem to be involved."

"N-No, I wasn't," she assured. "At least, not intentionally. I only meant to see if my brothers or sister had somehow gotten involved"--it would have been on par for at least two of them, and it would have explained what was taking any of them so damned long to find her--"but then I saw you there...and some other friends. I suppose I panicked." She hesitated for just a moment, struggling to remember who was helping whom. It was all a blur to the once rogue girl, who was only just beginning to make sense of the hierarchy here. "I ended up helping a girl back home to the Hollow...and making a home there for myself, in case anybody was in need of a healer." Hopefully that did not spell betrayal for the violet man. After that day, she would have been foolish not to shield herself within a pride.

Genesis was surprised, then, to hear that his sister had been his opponent, but the more he explained himself, the more it made sense why he seemed well despite the fight. He went on to list more prides--the Brook, the Summit--and she did her best to commit them to memory. Even more surprising it was that Aneistri had been on the side of the wedding crashers. Her brow furrowed with a mix of concern and interest over this. "She...wasn't connected to it, though, was she?" If she was anything like her brother, then there was no way.

At the same time, she tried to counter his melancholy expression with a reassuring smile, one that was partly meant to bring the light back to her own features. "I'm sure with time she'll understand. You were just looking out for her." Just like she was sure her own siblings would do for her, if only in their own odd ways.

art by moogle

He was glad to hear that she hadn't been involved, the wedding had turned nasty quick. He would have hated to see her harmed, just as much as he would have hated to see Ani or Fearne hurt as well. Orei had not been able to check on Genesis, so it was a relief to hear that despite not seeing her brothers or sisters that had still found friends to seek shelter with. The Hollow was a good place to be, their king was an ally to the Summit. "You were smart to go to the Hollow, it is one of the better prides." He reassured her, a small smile crossing his lips. "Aneistri spoke warmly of the Hollow when she lived there."

Had his sister truly been on the side of the wedding crashers? He wasn't so sure of the answer anymore. Where like Genesis he had assumed she was oblivious to what was going on, and while she was, she still felt the need to defend her ex-pride and her actions. "She hadn't lived there long enough to lay roots, but she feels smothered." He leaves out the fact that it was him she felt smothered by. None of this had been his intention yet he didn't seem to know the right answer. She hadn't gone back to the Brook even though she was free to do so if that's what she really wanted. And Genesis was right, eventually she would come to understand but right now everything he did just seemed wrong.

"Your siblings? Have you found any of them?" Orei changed the subject suddenly, remembering that one of the reasons Genesis had been at the wedding was in search of them.

"Speech."
@Genesis

art by moogle, code by corvus

Watching his expression carefully for any signs of a reaction, Genesis waited with a knot in her stomach to get a sense of whether this war had had any effect on their standing with one another. She would have felt quite silly if it did, given that they had hardly any rapport themselves beyond recognizing each other as a friendly passing face. The thought of potentially having to give him--or anyone she knew or hardly knew at all--the cold shoulder over their factions' inability to settle their differences did not and would not sit well with her. So, when @Orei cast her a reassuring smile and affirmed her decision, the knot unfurled, and she mirrored him with a relieved smile of her own.

She should have known she had made the right move. Like him, the Hollow had been nothing but good to her thus far. And it sounded like it had been good to his sister as well--or at least, so he said, before she started feeling smothered. It sounded like Aneistri had bounced around quite a bit, having tried desperately to cling to her birthplace only to see its condition sour. Was that how her own mother had felt about Amaryllis as a whole? Genesis wondered. Fortunately, she was privileged not to know such loss, but it helped her make some sense of why she and her siblings had been sent here.

"Have you found any of them?" he asked then.

Her smile wavered just a little with uncertainty as she contemplated how to answer him. Now this information would prove a little more delicate. "I have. One," she said. "My sister, Gwynevere. She's well, but"--her gaze flitted away a bit uneasily then back up to his--"she lives in the Bluffs, which...from my understanding, seems to stir very different feelings in others compared to the Hollow. Or Illyria." Or, it seemed, anywhere, judging by how the witnesses to the challenge for Wolfbron's crown had reacted to the outcome and its residents' ensuing threats.

art by moogle

He listens carefully, committing the second Farron 's name to memory. Gwynevere. He is a bit surprised that they had not gone to the same pride together, but something about her expression told him that maybe it was best that she hadn't. Orei knew little of the Bluffs besides that their rulers, much like the Summit, had been ruled by one family for many years. And when his father had been around, they too had been enemies to his family. "The Bluffs are ruled by another long-standing family." That was all he really knew about them. Her implication of them being less than desirable was lost on him, simply because he did not know enough about them to have an opinion. Yes, they had been enemies of his father but back then everyone had been. Which said more about the Saxe patriarch than anything.

"Since losing the Summit, we've been sticking close to the Grove." Orei explained "I'm not sure where we will go from here." He continues with a shrug of his shoulders, teal eyes returning to Genesis. The hollows wouldn't be a terrible place to end up, after all they had been allies to the Summit. He couldn't deny the absence of pride politics in their daily lives was an enjoyable change. And while he felt that inevitable pull towards Fearne, his couldn't deny that a part of him was also drawn to Genesis. She had become a familiar and warm presence, someone he looked forwards to seeing again, someone who's safety he worried about.

Orei moved towards her suddenly closing the distance between them, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Enough of the serious talk, let's enjoy today." letting his muzzle brush against her ear as he spoke, before bounding towards the cold water. Paw raised as he tried to splash her on the shore. He didn't want all of their meetings to be so somber, so serious, they were still so young. A distraction would be good for both of them.

"Speech."
@Genesis

art by moogle, code by corvus

It had been a small blessing that Genesis had run into someone who had such knowledge of the prides and their...goings-on, even if @Orei's own intelligence was limited to what his whirlwind life had allowed of him. Despite that, he was providing her with very valuable information, information she felt would ultimately help her continue to stay out of trouble and with the right company. This included his tidbit about the Bluffs' leaders having history with the mountain, which helped her piece together a little more the events that had transpired that day. So the Hollow was not the only well-established pride here. Which meant Gwynevere would likely get to live as comfortably as she.

She nodded her understanding at this, relaxing as well as she noted his overall lack of reactivity at her mention of them. However complicated the politics, at least Genesis could rest assured she had made all the right decisions so far for those she cared about. And she was sure he would too, as he confessed that he was unsure of the next direction he and his loved ones would take. Her gaze warmed at this, and she chuckled--hopefully sharing with him some of her reassurance. "What's important is you're safe. If I could last as long as I did as a rogue, then I'm sure you'll be just fine...until you find somewhere deserving of you and your flock."

Though perhaps she was trying to convince herself of such as much as she was him. That day had scared her so, enough that if it were up to her, she would have hoarded all the friends she had seen amidst the panic and brought them back to the Hollow with her, where they and Isildur could remain in one safe place under her watchful eye. The idea was tempting even now, with her first friend being such a rare sight for her in general.

But at the end of the day, the best she could do was express gratitude for the opportunity that presented itself now. To enjoy him as he stood before her in this moment. And he seemed to share her sentiment, trampling what remained of any heaviness with a bounding stride...and an unexpected fan of breath across her ear that left her wide-eyed and frozen in place.

"Enough of the serious talk. Let's enjoy today."

She was unsure if it was embarrassment or his residual body heat that left her face--and ear--feeling like a wildfire as he ran away again. Either way, it was a splash of ice-cold water that put out the flames and washed the shock from her face, bringing her back to reality as she stumbled backward with a giggle. Blinking the wetness from her eyes, she beamed at him and leapt forth to join him at the water's edge, aiming with one paw to send water hurling uselessly at him in retaliation.

All the while stuffing down that frighteningly familiar flutter in her stomach.

(517 words)

art by moogle

She was right, of course, they were safe in the Grove. Despite it being winter, they were not wandering alone. The majority of the pride had stuck together, thus it was easy to keep each other safe even if they were not in an official pride any longer. Orei had come to terms with it, he was not angry at the new Illyrian Queen, just angry for the family that had lost a home they had lived in for years before he had even been born. Before his father and mother had even come to Amaryllis.

He was glad to have the sudden distraction of the water, to enjoy the time spent with Genesis despite the chance they might freeze their tails off in the winter waters. She was a rare friend, someone who he had grown fond of getting to know and spend time with. The more he learned about her and she him, the more he felt a responsibility to keep her safe along with Fearne and his siblings.

Her giggle was echoed with one of his own as the water splashed onto his face, into his mane. He didn't even feel the cold as he beamed at her, blinking the water from his eyes. "You'll pay for that." He warns playfully, as he bounds towards her out of the water, hair weighed down. He launches himself towards her, aiming to grab her in a cold wet bear hug. Why should he be the only one covered in water?


"Speech."
@Genesis

art by moogle, code by corvus

Naturally, her splash of retaliation landed like mere droplets over @Orei's impossibly thick mane, but her goal was not to drench him anyway. Rather, it was to see the grin that lit up his face as she played along, to chase away the wrinkles of concern in his brow before they would surely leave permanent marks. There was no way she would ever truly know or understand what the man had been through. Compared to him and, come to find, many others here, her short life thus far had been a peaceful one, even if it was occasionally soured by a spat between siblings. No doubt he took and appreciated every chance he had to drop the weight he carried on his shoulders.

In fact, his past was enough to make her wonder about that of her mother, knowing she had once lived here herself and entrusted her children with the goal of doing the same. Was it possible that something as sinister as what Orei went through had happened to her? The thought was almost enough to drag her down another spiral, but his foreboding words were enough to break her out of it before she could be stolen away.

"You'll pay for that."

"Hey!" Suddenly, he was on her, long tresses of his waterlogged mane slopping over her as he hooked his arms around her. Her scream devolved into a fit of more giggles as she was engulfed by both the water's cold and his body's warmth, her own wriggling and writhing with its innate need to escape the former. Somewhere amidst her wriggling, she attempted to work her way out just enough to try and snag an ear between harmless front teeth and tug him down with her. If they were both going to be wet, then they were both going to be muddy, and she had a feeling his thick fur required about as much upkeep as her white.

art by moogle