[Alexander]

Speech:#99ccff

He'd been stalling.

Of course he'd been stalling; it was as plain as day from the moment he'd arrived that there was much more baggage that would need unpacking than he was ready to handle at the time.

He didn't know what to make of that first night in Nardir; being summoned to a grand council where the members all gasped and stared at him like a ghost having returned from the grave. But, he wasn't a ghost- he was Tobie. He was, as far as he knew, just a crazed wolf with strange dreams. The rest of this council had thought otherwise.

It was the old wolf Hakan who had broken through to him through constant reminding that the black wolf that stood with mouth open and shock on her face was not some stranger but in fact his sister. Alexander wasn't entirely sure that was true, but then again the old man hadn't been wrong thus far so anything was possible.

There was something about meeting Mercury- meeting her properly and alone- that intimidated him. Perhaps it was her stare? Perhaps it was her genuine silence that first night. Or rather, perhaps it had been that he had spent the last few weeks wandering the pack and barely seeing her save for a brief moment here or there. Words were never exchanged in those fleeting moments, and Alexander couldn't even tell if she'd noticed his presence when they came and fluttered by. Yet the boy knew that if he was going to ever figure himself out properly, it would involve having to meet with her. Alone. It was something Alexander dreaded.

It wasn't even the fact that he would need to speak with her at some point, it was simply the mere fact that he knew that she knew that he was an imposter. It had to have been the only explanation; she knew that he was not this long lost Prince of Nardir but instead a false prophet returned from a land that never existed. If they were siblings, truly siblings, there would not have been this long of a distance between them. The thought of her giving him space was something that would never have crossed his mind.

If he was to be found out, of course, it would need to be soon. Alexander had come to like Nardir and the wolves within its walls, but deep down he knew that if he was going to stay, this was going to have to be properly taken care of. It was this that rose him from a light slumber early one dreary morning; the weather matched his mood and the thought of the proverbial suicide mission he was about to undertake. The world around him was grey and dreary; a light humidity hanging in the air as thunder rolled across the mountain tops. There were storms and rain coming, but they still seemed to be far enough off that the golden male found no reason to worry as he made his way towards the castle.

He would sit outside and wait for her to begin her day if need be, but, Alexander knew if nothing else this was something that needed to be put to rest if for no other reason than his own sanity.

Down an unknown road

to embrace my fate

Though that road may wander,

it will lead me to you

[Mercury]

The Dark Moon Queen of Nardir                 ☿ "Being brave means to know something is scary, difficult, and dangerous, and doing it anyway, because the possibility of winning the fight is worth the chance of losing it. - Emilie Autumn

Mercury had learned by now that the pack rarely let her sleep in, and thus had formed the habit of waking up with the sun.  Instead she found that if she was gone in the middle of the day, no one seemed surprised.  Everyone would just assume that she was off doing something queenly.  In truth, a lot of the time, she was.  This lot certainly kept her busy.  But every now and again she'd go off on her own, somewhere forgotten and quiet, and take a damn nap.  She'd already been down to the lake this morning, taking an early swim and had breakfast; a small, probably young, turtle who had been sunning itself one of the large boulders at the water's edge. She had then shaken out her fur, gone for a jog around the bank towards the north crossing.  Before she reached the sheer cliffside with the small path Kastra had taken on the patrol, she turned and jogged back the other way.  There was rarely time to run the full lake in the mornings, but she liked the quiet time.

Her route brought her down the loosely forested hill and around, approaching the Castle courtyard from the lakeside.  She looked up at the big honeycomb of caves, expecting to see the usual coats up and about.  Instead, she saw a figure of gold climbing the ramp that lead to her apartment.  Alexander...  He'd barely been seen since Kyra had dragged him to see her.  Since then, the pack was down three members, as Byakko and Raka had rejoined the stars. As for the third... Well, ripples from a thrown stone only disturbed a lake for a little while.  The Dark Moon watched the Lost Prince as he made the final ascent, pausing in her doorway before he took a seat on the Patio.  So... he was ready to talk.  Mercury stood in the shade of the trees, where she was under the canopy and out of view of him, and took a moment.

What would she say? Welcome home, Brother?  Clearly he didn't remember her.  He hadn't even remembered his own name.  Honestly, Mercury didn't remember all that much about him either.  She remembered a kind-hearted, soft-natured, loving boy.  She didn't know the male who sat waiting for her. Well... No point in forcing the bond that wasn't there.  She'd just have to treat him like one of her subjects.  At least in that way, it would be the same for him as for everyone else.  If she couldn't be Mercury, his sister, she'd remain the Dark Moon Queen.  Steeling herself, she stepped out from the shade and walked up the path, coming up behind him on the ramp.

"If you intend to seek a morning audience, I fear the pack has an earlier internal clock than you do."

She said, walking past him with a calm, sure stride that befitted her station.  She ducked into her doorway and grabbed the edge of a bear pelt, unfolding it as she dragged it into the sun with her teeth.  He would recognize it as one of the audience furs that were used during the council meeting.   If he wanted to sit and talk, they may as well be comfortable.

☿

[Alexander]

Speech:#99ccff

"If you intend to seek a morning audience, I fear the pack has an earlier internal clock than you do."

Her stoic, regal voice hit his ears as Alexander heardMercury appear from behind him. The golden boy jumped to a stand as he whipped around to look at her, his heart also jumping a beat. If she'd been able to see inside his mind, she would have seen his entire persona cringe at her tone of voice. It wasn't even a scold, but the boy felt as if he had perhaps stepped over a line that neither of them were prepared for. Alexander gave Mercury a look before inhaling deeply and giving a short bow. What even was the protocol for this? Should he address her as an equal? Were they equals? According to Hakan they were siblings, but something deep within his gut told him that there was no level playing ground for him and her.

"I-I-I'm," he began, inhaling deeply as he raised his head just enough to show a submissive rank towards her. She knew. She had to have known that they were not related. Alexander's heart began to sink slowly in to his stomach. The ruse was up; they'd kick him out for sure soon enough. "My sincerest apologies for bothering you at such an hour, My Queen," was the final result that the boy could find himself mustering up.

Now what?

Alexander stood there a moment, allowing the silence to fill the void between them as he searched for what it was he wanted to say. There was so much, but, there was also nothing he could say that Mercury probably didn't already know. The boy would admit that he was severely intimidated being in her presence, though he'd do his best not to show it outwardly towards her.

"I was hoping, perhaps, you and I could talk? I'm not...entirely sure what about, but, Hakan has been most vocal in our meeting and...erm, talking." He flinched at his inability to be whatever it was the rest of the pack thought he was. Royal? Regal? He wasn't any of that...Not really.

Down an unknown road

to embrace my fate

Though that road may wander,

it will lead me to you

[Mercury]

The Dark Moon Queen of Nardir                 ☿ "Being brave means to know something is scary, difficult, and dangerous, and doing it anyway, because the possibility of winning the fight is worth the chance of losing it. - Emilie Autumn

He bowed to her as she dragged the pelt, and one of her dark brows rose at him.  But while she arranged seating, he seemed to only grow more nervous.  She didn't even have a chance to speak before he stammered out.

"I-I-I'm, My sincerest apologies for bothering you at such an hour, My Queen,"

"Such an hour?"

Mercury echoed, her head cocking in confusion.  Hadn't she just been telling him she'd already been up?  The pause turned awkward, and Mercury began to feel equally uncomfortable.  What do you say to  someone who had been missing for the vast majority of their lives?  He hadn't even remembered his name.  Had Hakan not blurted out what they had all been too shocked to say, he would have been Tobie the newcomer in his head.  It was a shock for all of them, and the siblings had jerked away from it like the zap of an electric fence.  Now they stood, and stared at each other as the seconds dragged on.


"I was hoping, perhaps, you and I could talk? I'm not...entirely sure what about, but, Hakan has been most vocal in our meeting and...erm, talking."


"Hmn." Hakan.

Mercury wasn't sure whether she owed the meddling elder a hug or a sharp nip in the haunch.  Still, the old healer knew how to cure all kinds of ills, and she supposed this probably was best for them.  No use in tip-toeing around each other while they tripped over their own tongues. She sighed, which ended into a scoff of a laugh.  Then she looked down at the pelt she had just laid out.  It seemed this wasn't a sit and chat kind of situation.  She really needed an extra set of paws to move these. It was such a trivial waste of time. She grabbed the pelt and quickly shoved it back into it's place, with perhaps a little less care than she should have.

"Come." She said when she was done, beginning down the path towards the courtyard. "I will show you Nardir while we talk."

The changing setting should provide a safety net for the conversation, and Mercury had a feeling she'd needed the connections of the land.

☿

[Alexander]

Speech:#99ccff

"Come. I will show you Nardir while we talk."


So far things hadn't been feeling as if they were going in Alexander's direction until Mercury laughed and suggested to go and walk through Nardir. The boy's heart almost jumped in to his throat at the suggestion- a walk would do them good, yet the idea of walking with this stranger made him feel weak at the knees. Yet he nodded and stood.

"Y-Yes, of course." His voice was shaky as he watched her begin to lead the way, following silently next to her and allowing that painful silence to return between them. It may have only been in his mind, but Alex could have sworn that there was tension thick enough to cut with a knife, and that the aura pouring around this Queen was enough of a buffer to kick him to the ground.

But finally, the golden male somehow found the courage to speak.

"I...uhm," he began, green eyes searching for the right words. He inhaled sharply and looked to her, then to the ground, then back to Mercury, "I'm sure...I'm sure you know that this is...all silly, right? I mean...I can't explain the dreams," his voice was slowly raising in pitch with anxiety as he spoke, the words coming out a little faster now as he began his confession, "but, but I feel like perhaps I've been lying to you all, and I'm not-- I'm not entirely sure...I--I--" the words were caught in his throat as he tried desperately to get his thoughts in to one cohesive sentence. Finally, the boy let out a loud sigh as his gaze diverted to the ground once more, his ears lowered against his head as his body shook violently from stress and adrenaline while they walked.

"I like it here. I...I really do...I just-- I don't want..."

Boy this was hard.

"I don't want you or your pack to believe something that isn't....I don't want to be a fraud. I don't know who this Alexander is that Hakan keeps going on about-- and I know....I know that some things he says make sense but--" he paused, visibly straining from the stress of talking to her, "he can't be right, can he?

Down an unknown road

to embrace my fate

Though that road may wander,

it will lead me to you

[Mercury]

The Dark Moon Queen of Nardir                 ☿ "Being brave means to know something is scary, difficult, and dangerous, and doing it anyway, because the possibility of winning the fight is worth the chance of losing it. - Emilie Autumn

"Y-Yes, of course."

Mercury thought she knew exactly where his nerves were coming from.  She'd been out of sync with Nardir when she'd first come home, and her memories of the place were intact.  Lex had spent more of his life away from Nardir than in it.  Hakan recognized him in a way that a parent always knows a child.  He had been there at their birth, and to train Alana and Alexander in the healing arts in their youth.  One sniff and the pack could tell they were related.  But for a boy who had no memories?  How much harder must it be, to have no memories to guide him?

"I...uhm, I'm sure...I'm sure you know that this is...all silly, right? I mean...I can't explain the dreams, but, but I feel like perhaps I've been lying to you all, and I'm not-- I'm not entirely sure...I--I--"

"Shenandoah used to have visions." Mercury said, seemingly unperturbed by his stammering about explanations. "She once predicted an attack, and while it still happened, and the battle afterward was long and bloody, she did save many lives with her foresight."

Shenandoah's dreams had scared her.  But all that had happened before they had been born.  Mercury walked them along a trail that the pack did not use often, but she seemed to know where she was going, and didn't falter in her steps.  She had something in mind, something she thought might convince him that he didn't need to force things.  Not in this place. Not with her.

"I have never had such things." She said, ducking down under a now fallen sapling on the track. "But on the first night I brought the pack home, I had a dream."

The trails around her were the trails of her youth, and as she ran, the world grew around her.  She was a pup again, looking through the eyes of the past.  Alana tagged along at her heels, and ahead of her, her brother's laughter echoed through the trees.  She chased it, and found herself at a very familiar tree.  The light cooled, and sadness washed over her as she saw the ground as she had last, with her mother beneath it.  But like flicking a loose switch, the scene flickered bright silver, Shenandoah standing ghostly pale in the moonlight.  Mercury paused, and with the next flicker she saw Kyril beside her.  Another flicker, and the shadowy form of Kokutan, his eyes filled with starlight.  She blinked once, and found Shaman, and Rain.  More figures appeared, ripples of starlight that revealed whispers of those long gone.  The raised their voices as one, and the howl rang through the Dark Moon's soul.

"I believe those who belong to this land are called to it."

"I like it here. I...I really do...I just-- I don't want... I don't want you or your pack to believe something that isn't....I don't want to be a fraud. I don't know who this Alexander is that Hakan keeps going on about-- and I know....I know that some things he says make sense but-- he can't be right, can he?"

She stopped, and looked off the track into a small clearing in the grove.  A tumble of boulders nested in one corner, the mosses and ferns creating an overgrown curtain that almost entirely hid the entrance to the den within.  It was a place she had not been to in many seasons.  But it was the first place she had called home.  That they had called home.  Their litter had been born here.  This clearing had been their first playroom.  So, that was it.  He didn't remember, so he felt guilty enough to believe that they'd think it was his fault.  It stabbed her in the heart.  But she held it behind the same court mask she donned as Queen.  She didn't let him see how much it hurt her that he didn't know her.  Instead, she locked her eyes on the clearing.

"What does the land tell you?" She asked, and stepped to let him see it without seeing her.

She still stared, but her mind traced back through the years and replayed the memories from here.  The games of tag, the wrestling matches.  Her mother laughing, telling them stories. Her father coming several times a day to check on her mother.  Her real father coming when when his brother was gone.  Dappled sunlight and warm dreams.  Soft, tiny memories of smells, feelings and emotions more than concrete events.  Not a picture, just a palate.  But an undeniable sense of connection.  She was sure Alexander would remember this place.  He would have outgrown the memories long before he would have left Nardir.  But that would make it all the easier for them to resurface... She hoped.

☿

[Alexander]

Speech:#99ccff

"Shenandoah used to have visions. She once predicted an attack, and while it still happened, and the battle afterward was long and bloody, she did save many lives with her foresight. [...] I have never had such things. But on the first night I brought the pack home, I had a dream."

The boy watched as Mercury completely ignored everything he had to say and instead talked about Nardir and someone he didn't know. Well, the name sounded familiar but he couldn't put a face to it. His ears dropped as they walked on, eyes darting this way and that as they took a path he had never been down before. Had it not been for Mercury leading, Alexander surely would have hit his head against the log as they walked, but the boy ducked under it, following until she stopped. He couldn't find the words to retort or say anything, so he kept his mouth shut for now.

"What does the land tell you?"

Alexander looked up for the first time really since they began this trek; his head rising from a submissive position to look out at the moss covered stone and the small den and area surrounding it. He blinked a few times, his limbs slowly pulling him closer and closer towards the structure. And then he stopped, golden green eyes welling with tears that he didn't even know were there; blinking them away as his nose stung with a smell so familiar that his heart ached deep within his chest and he began to feel his limbs shaking. It felt as if he were coming home for the first time, to a home that he hadn't seen since he was a child, and the rush of emotion building up inside of him left him speechless.

Slowly, step by step he inched closer towards the den, nose twinging every few seconds as he sniffed the area. He didn't bother asking either as he nosed away the overgrowth and stepped in to the den, and all at once a wave of long forgotten yet still lingering musk hit his nose and he was frozen.

There were no memories that enveloped him as he stood there in the cold, damp and long forgotten den of his past; only a sense of home. He felt himself all at once freeze and then relax, as if he were returning to a place from his childhood. The prince took a long deep breath in, tears staining his fur as he smiled softly. He couldn't answer his Queen's question, because there wasn't anything he could describe to her. How could he tell her the land-- this particular patch of land-- felt like home, when the rest of Nardir didn't?

Alexander's ears twitched as a distant and faint flutter of child's laughter erupted from outside. His golden head swung around--there were three voices? Who could have been here with them? The prince re-emerged from the den, golden green eyes puffed with tears that still hung in his eyes as he looked around confused. He could have sworn...

"There were three of them..." he said, voice distant as he looked around and then back to Mercury, blinking several times and inhaling sharply.

"I'm...this place," he said, shakily exhaling, "there were three...it was..home..This land feels like home." His brows knitted as he spoke those words, narrowed eyes looking back up at Mercury, almost as if there was a tiny realization. But it faded and he shook his head, slowly walking back up to her, his head held higher than it was when they arrived.

"I don't understand," he said, confusion in his voice, "why does this feel so familiar when nothing else in Nardir does? Except, except for my small cave by the lake?"

Alexander turned back to look at the den, ears perked and then slowly lowering as the feeling of home tugged him back again. He would resist, his heart feeling as though leaving it would break his heart.

"Was this...your home?  My home?" The prince looked from the den back to Mercury, then once more back to the den. He turned, as if perhaps seeing something though nothing was there.

"Someone is missing..." he'd finally say as silence grew between them, "the third child."

Down an unknown road

to embrace my fate

Though that road may wander,

it will lead me to you

[Mercury]

The Dark Moon Queen of Nardir                 ☿ "Being brave means to know something is scary, difficult, and dangerous, and doing it anyway, because the possibility of winning the fight is worth the chance of losing it. - Emilie Autumn

Her heart was screaming in her chest, so tight she felt it would crush her in an implosion.  She wanted to scream at him, to grab him by the nape and shake his memory back.  It would do no good.  Mercury did not have the shards of Alexander's shattered chalice.  He had to find them in the darkness on his own.  So she didn't scream, didn't plead, didn't cry.  Mercury steeled her heart and let him look.

The response was almost immediate.  Alex walked as though drawn to the boulders, his legs stiff and his gait shuffling.  He disappeared inside, and she finally moved, stepping out of the shade of the trees and into the soft dappled light.  She closed her eyes, lifted her head, and simply listened to the birds.  Drawing in a long, slow breath, she exhaled it in a slow, deliberate sigh.  Again, and again.  She reached for the earth through her paws.  The grass was cool, still damp from the morning dew, not yet dried by the warming sun.  The air was moist, heavy with the scent of wet earth.  Her dark coat caught the rays that filtered through the trees, warming her.  Home. The land said.

"There were three of them..."

Mercury's eyes opened and she dropped her head to look at him as he came up to her.

"I'm...this place- there were three...it was..home..This land feels like home. I don't understand, why does this feel so familiar when nothing else in Nardir does? Except, except for my small cave by the lake? Was this...your home?  My home?"

She stood by, helpless as he became frantic.  While she stood on firm ground, he was now in a mire of emotions.  If she gave him any more than what he could handle, she was afraid she'd drown him.  Had Alexander always been this flighty?  He had handled their parent's death much more calmly than this.  But Mercury was no healer, and certainly no oracle.  She could not see into her brother's mind or his heart.  All she could do was provide the landmarks, and hope Nardir would call him home.

"Someone is missing...the third child."

She smiled, relief flooding her limbs and making her giddy.  He knew there were three!  Of course, someone could have said something at some point.  It was not as though she had hidden Alana's existence from him.

"Yes."  She breathed, sighing in relief. "The Bright Moon."

Mercury turned back from the den and led him along the track again.  She had intended to take him all the way to Vaidya's Garden, but his reaction to their birthing den encouraged her.  If she could bring back his memory, at least of her and their sister, he would know who he was.  After that, they had all the time in the world to fill in the pieces.  So she skipped ahead through their walk from the first to the last major event the three of them had shared together.

"She became Queen." Mercury continued as they walked towards the Everstill Pines. "Until the crown became too heavy."

They fell silent again for a time, and Mercury let Alexander look over the land again.  She felt that perhaps, this time, he would be looking through a different pair of eyes.  Rather than interrupt his thoughts, she kept the pace easy and relaxed.  Today, she had nothing else to do.  Well, she probably did.  If Arik had a lesson today he'd be showing up after sunset.  It really was all fascinating, and while he sometimes tactfully skipped rituals or other "magical" bits, she didn't mind having censored lessons.  She did not rely on the oracle as her parents had, but she did not deny it's power.

Her own musings kept her occupied enough to not let the silence draw out awkwardly.  At last they made it to a large tree, it's gnarled roots partially exposed as the ground had been shifted and dug around it, now, it framed a stone cairn.  Speckled in among the tumble of stones were four large moonstones, that caught the light like two pairs of watchful eyes.  Ferns and mosses were beginning to reclaim these stones as well, and a dusting of pine needles around the place added to the air of undisturbed power.  In among the lower stones, a few vines of moonflowers, their buds tightly shut against the sun, had begun to creep in a soft wreath.

"This was the last place they were all together..."

At the grave of the King and Queen of Nardir.

☿

[Alexander]

Speech:#99ccff

"Yes. The Bright Moon. She became Queen. Until the crown became too heavy."


Something in Alexander's gut dropped as he listened to Mercury explain- he wasn't sure why but for some reason hearing that made him sad. It was as if he'd found something important and then all at once a part of it was taken away again. He looked down and nodded, golden green eyes searching the dirt as if the ground itself would have an answer for him that he hadn't already tried thinking of.

But before the boy could lift his head and answer, Mercury was walking again, and this time he found himself walking next to her instead of behind her. He wasn't entirely sure how he'd managed to keep pace- was she slowing down to walk next to him, or was he unintentionally walking at her speed? He couldn't help but look around though, eyes darting on every aspect of the territory that he could see; some of it would ping a feeling of remembrance while others did not.

Finally though it seemed as though Mercury had found her next destination, bringing them to a large gnarled tree with four markers that appeared at a glance like a pair of eyes watching. It was...unsettling at first but there was something strange about them that had his ears perked and head tilted as they approached.

"This was the last place they were all together..."


Alexander stood there a moment, allowing another silence to befall the pair as he stared at the structure long and hard. After what felt like an eternity, the boy stepped forward again, his head lowering as he took a breath in; the world around them may have looked and smelled differently, but he couldn't help but feel this stomach churning sickly feeling in his throat and stomach. Part of him felt like vomiting, part of him felt like breaking down and crying. In the end, he did neither. Instead, he found himself sitting down in front of the stones, his ears slowly pinning back against his head. There was a sadness in his eyes that he didn't know was there until he spoke.

"It was an illness...they sacrificed themselves to save the pack. To let....you...us...to live on."

His brows furrowed as he said this, voice sullen and low, the words falling from his mouth before his brain could manage the catch up as to what he was saying. There was no frantic worry in his voice, only sadness now as the realizations and memories began to flood back. It wasn't a full dam of them, no, but it was something tangible to leave the golden boy feeling as though what everyone had been saying was not some falsification.

Tears once more began to blot his eyes as he stared at the graves, the boy desperately trying to blink them away as they stained his fur. How could he have forgotten? A gentle breeze swept past them both and it was as if the wind itself knocked him to his senses, even if only a little bit.

A small, cruel smile swept across his face; the pain of it more visible than he had hoped. In an instant, he was chuckling, tears streaming down his face as he did his best to keep his composure.

"Uncle...he brought us here. To tell us the truth." At that, he laughed out loud- one sickening guffaw before lowering his head, the smile wiping from his face. He remembered. It wasn't much but it was enough- he could recall that day in fuzzy detail, but it was there.

"Its no one fault. Do not blame yourself," he mused as he remembered his uncle's words, head lowered to the ground as the flood gates began to open. Again, the golden prince shook his head and found himself chuckling, his entire body shaking. There were many things in Nardir that he still could not remember, but this was enough for him to remember who he was, if even for a moment.

He would allow the silence to fall between them once more, golden green eyes searching the ground before looking back up to where the stones were. The memories were strong; the emotions and the sickly feeling of needing to be the rock for his sisters as they announced the death of their parents. He'd said nothing but he kept himself sturdy for them. One of them needed to be sturdy, one of them needed to repress the emotions, even if only temporarily. Alexander felt something steel within his heart and head; a door that began to open but refused to. There was still a lock that kept him from understanding.

"I remember," he said after a long pause, eyes searching, his voice low and distant, "I remember...she told the pack...we were there." He furrowed his brows again, his brain desperately trying to latch on to something. The facts and evidence were there, he knew that now, but still somewhere in his head he felt as though he were viewing the life of another Alexander- one that was him but also wasn't him. Finally, he turned to look at Mercury, confusion and sadness having completely enveloped his face.

"I was there. You...were there." Still, he looked at her as though she were a distant memory, but one that was clearer than it had been before. Perhaps it wasn't that distant at all.

Alexander took in a long breath of air before shakily exhaling. There was still a piece missing- if he was...if he was the same Alexander, which, he was beginning to think he was, then how did he forget? How could he have forgotten?

He looked up to Mercury, hoping she would have an answer.

Down an unknown road

to embrace my fate

Though that road may wander,

it will lead me to you

[Mercury]

The Dark Moon Queen of Nardir                 ☿ "Being brave means to know something is scary, difficult, and dangerous, and doing it anyway, because the possibility of winning the fight is worth the chance of losing it. - Emilie Autumn

What could a trance like this be called?  Not a seance, nothing so deliberate.  But not a grounding, either.  Whatever it was, Nardir enveloped Alexander's spirit.  The feeling of the places she showed him had a visibly physical pull.  Mercury couldn't restore his memories, but she knew what it felt like to be called by this land.  She knew what would call her brother home.  When he sunk onto his haunches, she quietly approached him.

"It was an illness...they sacrificed themselves to save the pack. To let....you...us...to live on. Uncle...he brought us here. To tell us the truth."

"Yes." Mercury sighed from just behind his shoulder.

"I remember, I remember...she told the pack...we were there. I was there. You...were there."

He looked back at her, green eyes pleading.  It broke her heart.  But she couldn't tell him what she did not know.  She turned from the clearing, ready to take him away from the place that, while peaceful, would always be a well of sorrow for them.

"You disappeared shortly after."

Somewhere she had stopped telling him a story, and the two of them had begun to talk.

☿

[Alexander]

Speech:#99ccff

"You disappeared shortly after."

Mercury's words hit him, but he'd already been thinking about that. There were only more questions instead of answers. He could understand, he could accept that he was Alexander, or at least, he was another Alexander walking a new path the old Alexander had once walked before disappearing. They were one in the same and yet somehow so different. The golden prince looked away from her a moment, his eyes searching the ground for an answer. How did he go missing? Why did he go missing?

"I--" he began, brows furrowing as he looked back up to her, frustration rushing in to his features a moment. He'd let them down, somehow, he'd managed to let them down and he didn't even remember it. He couldn't remember how or why he chose to walk the path he now found himself on, but here they were.

"I am, so sorry," he finally said, eyes working through the process of remembering, understanding, and compartmentalizing it all. His mouth hung open, jaw working as he tried to find the words, tried to find something that he could say that could make it all better. But he couldn't.

"I am...so sorry. I am sorry I don't...remember it all. I--" the frustration rose, his limbs shaking again as he sat there, head shaking from side to side. These were moot, but he felt it was still necessary. Alexander took in a deep breath, exhaling through his open mouth, the frustration turning in to determination.


"I would like to see more...I want to remember. I want to know why I left. I want to know why I can't remember...."

Down an unknown road

to embrace my fate

Though that road may wander,

it will lead me to you

[Mercury]

The Dark Moon Queen of Nardir                 ☿ "Being brave means to know something is scary, difficult, and dangerous, and doing it anyway, because the possibility of winning the fight is worth the chance of losing it. - Emilie Autumn

"I-- I am, so sorry,"

Mercury stopped walking, but didn't turn back around.  What could she say?  There were no words to explain the loss, the elation at being found.  But she also knew what it felt like to be on the other side.  At least when she had returned home she knew she was Mercury.  Her dog name had been a cover, a mere mask to get her through.  It was a mask that was comfortable, one she had not completely discarded, attested the collar around her neck. But she had enough to stand on when she had returned, what did he have?  Ghosts and haunting dreams...

"I am...so sorry. I am sorry I don't...remember it all. I--"

"It is a great catastrophe to become lost." Mercury interrupted, turning her head, but looking to the ground as she spoke. Her tone sharper than it had been, like she spat out the words before they could choke her. "Greater still, is the shattering of be found."

She began to resume her steps on the trail, intending to give him the time and space she thought he needed. Just as the day where she had said goodbye to Raka and Byakko, she kept her pace slow.  It wasn't far before she would be out of his sight and into the trees.  It took all her self control not to immediately break into a run.  But she had only taken a few steps when-

"I would like to see more...I want to remember. I want to know why I left. I want to know why I can't remember...."

He was reaching out... she could hear the desperation in his voice, the pleading hand extended towards her.   So Mercury took a deep breath, and tensed her ribs to keep her heart intact so that he couldn't see how close this was to breaking her. She wanted her brother back, and she hoped the Stars would grant her this.

"Has Hakan taken you to the Garden?" She asked softly.

☿