(PRP) Shelter in the Storm. (Sanctuary x Thierry)

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

 

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Her father, Lysander, woke her in the middle of the night. Sanctuary's eyes had trouble focusing until her always gentle father shook her. Words spilled from his mouth and she felt the words gnawing at her like a beast with a bone. He was telling her that she had to go, she had to leave--and not only leave, but leave now in the middle of the night without him. He would follow if he could, but not to wait for him.

Tears burned her eyes as he told her that she must be strong, that he had known this was coming and he had planned for her escape. The guards were going to rise up against the patriarchy, the elders and this was the only way that he knew she would be safe.

If she ran.


She did not want to run, she did not want to leave her father or break her vows to marry the stallion that she barely knew, that duty was to make her wed. It had been a blessing, the daughter of a lowly guard raised up to be elite. Her father had never objected, not openly but she had seen his eyes something glinting.

Now as she wept silently, he told her that she had to go. It was the only way to be safe. He could not bear it if she as not safe. And that no matter what happened now, she'd be able to live the life she wanted out there. Free to love whomever she pleased.

Her heart squeezed when he said it, of course he knew, he always knew.

The pack settled on to her side, and just after midnight she fled the only home she'd ever known. Her heart beat out the last words her father had told her after he'd told her to run. You cannot risk coming back. Not for me. Not for you. You cannot come back.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Two Months Later

 

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Thierry stretched out her legs as she made her way through the forest. She had gone well below the cursed graveyard through the boggs she had spent her childhood learning. It was wiser to go this way then to cut above the Cursed Graveyard, even sadistic skinwalkers didn't particularly like getting stuck in bogss. It kind of went against the whole big and bad image if you got stuck in quicksand or a bog for several days.

She'd been planning this trip to the forest though her mother Aella had not been wanting her to go. It was dangerous to go alone. But she knew her mother was thinking of Chanterelle, her mother, the one she'd never met and the foals she had lost to the life outside the swamp when the fields and forests had been swept with fire.

They had never returned.


But Thierry was not a creature of fear, she was brave and her recklessness had been tempered by her age. She was more cautious now that she understood her mother's fears but it did not mean she would not live the life she wanted.

There were some herbs and dried flowers she wished to get from the forest, some tradeable delicacies that would allow her to get some of the things they needed for winter or storms as those supplies were running low.

The night air was cool as she moved through the gaps in the trees to get to an ideal camping spot. As she moved through the trees though she saw something rather like reflected moonlight and around it a sea of stars.

With a careful tread, she moved to the pile of what on closer inspection looked like bones. When she was close enough though, she could see it was a body, breathing great ragged breaths.

The mare was about her own age, each of her bones prominently standing out beneath her skin as though her skin could barely cover the bones. She was all edges and her skin was dappled with stars. Her hair was the color of twilight and in it hung one lone pearl that had not fallen from her hair.

Taking out her pack, Thierry gave the mare some of her water then used the rest to clean the jagged wounds on her skin that made it look as though she were made of bloody stars. The mare barely stirred the whole time and Thierry wasn't sure quite what to do next except feed her some of the soup broth her mother had sent for emergencies.

When she had done all that she felt she could, she took out the worn blanket and threw it over herself and the mare and huddled beneath the windy trees.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Sanctuary felt water run over her lips and quench her parched throat. She wasn't sure what was going on or what was happening, ecept that suddenly the chill was starting to leave her bones and something seemed to move outside of her eyelids with a fierce red glow.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Thierry huddled against the mare despite the heat she put out. She didn't know if the mare could hear her or if the mare was too close to death. She'd never seen someone so thin or sick as this. All through the night, she pressed her heat to the other mare's and spoke to her in a soothing voice. She told her about her mothers and her siblings. Thierry told her over and over that she would be fine, but she never mentioned the nagging fear of death---she knew better than to invite it's presence into the conversation. It was like opening the door to the idea, she had been taught. Don't speak it, don't let it in.

As the night drew on, she felt the shivers of the mare start to slow as the heat of her body returned to normal. She poured water onto her parched lips, let it dribble down her throat. Thierry knew that the mare likely needed water but she could not risk giving her too much of anything at once.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Sanctuary was afloat in a place plagued by things that picked and pulled at her skin. She was hot all over, the temperature of a star about to go supernova and burst. She didn't think she could survive the pain of it, but little by little a galaxy of starlight was poured into her burning soul and the fire began to dissipate.

It felt like years, time without age or meaning when finally she felt something that was close to relief and finally just short of pain. A husky voice spoke to her about others she didn't know and weaved her into the stories. Little by little she felt a part of those stories though she could not recall a single word, only the feeling of acceptance. It felt like sunlight on our skin, everything in the open and whoever's voice that was spoke of things that were that, whatever they were.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

When daylight came, she found more water to give the mare. The mare hadn't waken since she left. Nor did she wake any of the times she put salve on her wounds or gave her water, though she was now drinking with obvious thirst instead of meekly accepting the water like before. She seemed to be doing better, her eyes were no longer flicking crazily beneath her eyelids but she wasn't waking up.

Another night passed in anxious watch until she drifted into sleep only to be woken by a cracking, beautiful voice.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

The voice became louder and clearer as she trie to struggle to the surface of consciousness. Every now an then a word would come through like "water" or "mom" or "starlight" or "okay", or "please".

Please. That word stuck with her, it was the one that she heard most often. It was more a command than a question and she felt herself rising to answer it. The world finally felt less blurry but it was a hard push toward the surface. Her body rebelled, she wanted to sleep and sleep but something in her told her she couldn't go on doing that. She had to be awake. She had to be.

The light was soft when she opened her eyes, but even that burned too brightly. She wasn't used to it. It took a few minutes to remember how to turn her neck but when she did she saw the most beautiful face poised in sleep with a devilish grin.

"Hey," she croaked out.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Thierry felt as though she had just fallen asleep, and maybe she had, when that rough, croaky, beautiful voice spoke to her. Her eyes shot open though she had not believed they were capable of opening while they were still so tired. The mare who looked back at her look confused but there was a faint glow of health returning to her cheeks, or at least it wasn't fever. Thierry let out a loud whoop that a combination of nerves and excitement before kissing the stranger fully on the mouth.

The mare blushed beneath that moonkissed skin and Thierry smiled into the face that had become more delicate with sickness. "You're alive," she said it with joy, with abandon. "You're alive." She grinned even wider as the stranger kissed her back with a ferocity she had not expected.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Sanctuary had not known what to expect when she spoke to the mare who had obviously saved her life, the one who had been talking to her through dreams and nightmares and fevers. But she knew that she had not been expecting the pure joy on the other mare's face. She had not expected that anyone, let alone someone she didn't even know, would feel so strongly about whether she lived or died.

Before she could process any more the mare let out a whoop of joy that made something in her chest catch Then the strangers face was pressed close to hers and they were kissing. It felt like the surging of a thousand birds freed all at once in her chest, birds that had never flown before and had never known they would know the joy of flying.

The kiss broke apart and the girl whispered about her being alive, but it wasn't that reason that tears filled Sanctuary's eyes. It was the joyful taste of freedom. She had survived to wherever this place was and in this place a mare had kissed her as naturally as would a stallion. All of the constraints of her life before fell away, all the social constructs meant to weigh her down.

Before the mare could speak again she silenced her with a kiss, throwing everything she felt into it. The joy, the longing....How it was like coming home and finding hoe all at once. How for the first time ever in the history of her life she felt that she could be herself, that she could actually be free.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Thierry was silenced by that kiss as she had never been silence about anything else. All words fled her mind, all ideas except the moment of this kiss. The way the nameless mare's lips felt more real to hers than any lips she'd kissed. How there was a kind of wild joy combined with a wary longing that she could almost taste. She deepened the kiss, letting the nameless mare know that she agreed. Whatever this was, it was.

That didn't even make sense, but who was she to say what made sense? She had kissed the mare in joy, in full love of life and living and with the mare, it had echoed back fiercely like a thousand bells making a proclamation.

"I am yours, and you are mine." It was clear.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

No other words would need to pass between them, all that was and is and ever will be was in the limitless enternity of that kiss.