Dawnlark Plains Kill your heroes and fly
Hearthwood
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Limit Two 
The plains. The bear. It had abandoned this place, just as much as the wolves who had been here had. It was safe now. But it didn't feel safe. She stood and remembered that day, just for a moment, and wondered what had brought her here. There was some wild need in her, an urge to take something back from this place. Something she'd felt was stolen from her when the bear descended, and all she could do was stare. Reverie paced in the snow and considered how best to reclaim her memory of this vast snowy stretch of land.
Then it hit her. It seemed so obvious. The answer to every problem, every question she'd ever had. Reverie glanced around first this time, hoping that no one would appear to see her and embarrass her. It looked like she was alone. The gilded girl started to dance; to replace the memory of fear with something lighter, something that was hers and hers alone.
Watching me is like watching a fire take your eyes from you
Brecheliant
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Dwin had had a choice between turning back or going forward.

At the coast there, while feeling enchanted by the ocean and all the people she had met and things she had learned, she had been close to a breaking point too. It seemed that the more miles between her and Brecheliant were, the stronger was the pull to return. If memories of her home had dwindled a little, while she had still romped around the flatlands and wilderness, now they had a tendency to visit in her sleep. Vivid recollections of warm summer days with endless warmth, sunlight and all things great. There were now mornings and afternoons, when Warlord Svenson woke up with wet cheeks and huge sadness in her heart. 

She had made a choice - a difficult one. To move on. With a promise to herself that, when the time was right, there would be no shame to return to her family's nest to recuperate, to bask in love and affection and to tell all about her adventures. With a goal in mind for future, it was easier to cope with today and here she was - had walked along the coast, past a mountain range and entered an entirely different world. At first it had not seemed that different from the one she had left on the other side of the mountain range, but the knowledge of being now very far from her home gave the scenery entirely different set of shades and colours. 

There - she did not have to walk on her own for a very long time. For she spotted someone in the distance and upon coming closer she was glad to see another young wolf. Fully preoccupied - so that Dwin felt it would be rude to interrupt right away. She sat down and watched the other curiously. 
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This time, Reverie failed to notice she was being watched. At least, for a time. She fell into a familiar dance; the first call of the Mother's season, when the rain truly began to fall in The Gilded Sea. It was not what she'd meant to call upon; it just felt right, somehow.
It was a dance like a lightning strike; like the fiercest wildfire lashing across the land. Fire had no place in her heart, but she was perhaps becoming accustomed to a certain sort of burning. That was what being alive felt like; it felt like burning endlessly, like being consumed by something you couldn't stop or even truly grasp. Time devoured everything, in the end. Maybe that was what she wanted now.
Reverie saw the girl, and the whole thing screeched to a halt. She stopped dead in her tracks, maintaining her footing in spite of her surprise. Oh! Caught again! This time by a pale girl, a young girl, close to her age she thought. She took a breath and stepped forward to greet her. Oh, hi - I didn't see you there... She trailed off, then thought to introduce herself. I'm Reverie.
Watching me is like watching a fire take your eyes from you
Brecheliant
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"Name's Dwin," the young Blackthorn introduced herself, when Reverie had stoppe dancing, turned to her and greeted her in a friendly manner. She took it as an encouragement to come closer to have a good look at the first foreign face of these lands. The girl was a beautiful creature, who had some elf-like ethereal qualities. "You looked like an impersonation of a sunlight there," she told. 

"Happen to be familiar with the father Sun and his family, eh?" she asked, playfully tilting her head to the side and waiting to see, if the other would pick up the thread of the game and continue to play along.
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Dwin! Reverie felt her cheeks turn warm when the girl told her that she looked like sunlight. Had anyone ever given her such a compliment? She could only smile, her flushed pleasure turning into something like confusion. A girl? was all she had time to think, before Dwin distracted her with a strange comment.
Father Sun! Was that only another name for Father Fire? But she hated the thought of being associated with the flames, and chose not to think of it that way. Instead she thought of how she felt when she danced; like pure light, a wisp of air and sun. Maybe the sun is my father, She countered, feeling a little silly and a little mischievous. Maybe I'm only a trick of the light, and I'm not really here at all. She felt that way sometimes. Often. She wondered if Dwin would understand.
Watching me is like watching a fire take your eyes from you
Brecheliant
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Something about the girl made Dwin think about her sister Dee. They did not look similar to one another, but the demeanor felt familiar. Or was it Sylvie - her older sibling? In any case - Reverie embodied all the lovely feminine qualities that Dwin did not care about, though occasionally that inner goddess inside her cracked open an eye and murmured something lazily. 

"Well, that is something new. Are you unique or there are more of you? I think that sunrays rarely play on their own. They have brothers and sisters too," she mused. "But maybe the sun on this side of the mountains act differently than on the other. I come from over there," she waved towards the direction she had come. "And you - in fact - are the first sunlight I have met in quite a long time."
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Something about the question inspired her. Reverie thought back on The Gilded Sea and her gilded siblings. There are more. I have lots of brothers and sisters. We used to sing and dance together - but then we were separated, Easier, somehow, to speak of her past in terms of fiction. Sunlight has to touch the whole world, after all! Even if it was only a half-truth. Though Reverie might have liked to think herself a stray strand of sunlight roaming the world, she did know better. She was only a girl, lost and confused. Dwin made her feel like she could be more, though, if only for this moment.
Her gaze followed Dwin's wave toward the mountains. Everyone should have a little sunlight in their lives, She commented softly. She was thinking more of herself, then. If she was nothing but a trick of the light herself, then what was it that she deserved?
Watching me is like watching a fire take your eyes from you
Brecheliant
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"Why were you separated?" Dwin asked, hoping that this she-wolf was a fellow soul, who had decided to become a grand explorer like her. After meeting Val she had been thinking that having a companion would be better than to travel alone. 

"I left my home few weeks ago, I wanted to see the world and so far it has not disappointed me," she shared, just in case the other felt shy on the first go to tell her story. "I have met a lot of interesting people and beasts that I would neve had, if I had stayed home," she said. 

"Though Brecheliant - that's, how my home is called - literally means an enchanted forest. There is plenty to see there too. In case you ever happen to be in that area," it was an informal invitation to come and visit at some point. 

"Where do you live now? Who are your people?" she asked.
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Oh wow, Dwin talked a lot! Reverie was so taken with her explanation about leaving her home that she almost forgot about the questions she asked. An enchanted forest! She thought shyly that it made sense that Dwin would have come from a place like Brecheliant, because there was something enchanting about her. She didn't dare voice it, though. Back in The Gilded Sea, the punishment for something like having a crush on a girl was —
Well, it was death, but her father was so far away she wondered sometimes if he'd forget that she'd existed at all. She thought of Tybault then, and hoped that he'd left too. She hoped he would fall in love with a man who understood him, maybe someone like Lestan. He deserved that.
There was a fire, she might have told Dwin, but light didn't run from fire; light followed fire. Well... it was actually very dark, where we lived. My siblings and I, we were the only light. I didn't realize it until - I got lost one day. I was afraid, so I ran, She expected to feel overwhelmed any moment, even as she said it. It didn't happen, though. And then... I ended up here. I live with a pack called Kvarsheim now. It's not an enchanted forest, but it's a wonderful place. You could come visit too, if you travel that way! Reverie indicated the general direction with a tilt of her nose.
I'd like to see the world too, I think. It's such a big place! If only those she cared for weren't tied to their packs! She would whisk them away in a heartbeat to travel the world with her.
Watching me is like watching a fire take your eyes from you
Brecheliant
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#10
Dwin sensed that there was more to the story than Reverie let on, but did not press on it. Yes, she liked to ask questions a lot, but she never tried to dig for truth, if the person seemed unwilling to share it. At times this did happen by accident, when she got carried away and did not notice beforehand that question was good. Therefore she accepted the tale of the dark island and siblings being the only flickers of light in it. With this narrative - hers about dragon daycares and Big Fish in the lake did not seem unrealistic either. 

"Kvarsheim - and here I thought that only my home had an odd name," Sapphique had sounded very interesting too. "What does it mean - Kva-a-rsheim? What does your current home boast with?"
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Reverie felt a little exhilarated in the wake of her brief tale, as if she'd done something rule-breaking and past curfew. When Dwin asked after the meaning of Kvarsheim, she realized she didn't know, but the shame of that was muted by her excitement. Oh, I - I'm not sure. It's in a different language - Icelandic, I think, She remembered that she was meant to learn from Gunnar, and this time she did feel ashamed. It's a beautiful place, though. They have all of these huge stones, really tall, just sitting around in a circle. Sometimes I think they must be alive.
It was foolish, she knew, but she could never resist these idle flights of fancy. She imagined them as ancient beings, maybe a little grumpy. Reverie imagined she might be a little short-tempered if she was that old! Then she wondered how Gunnar managed, and was entirely distracted by the thought.
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Brecheliant
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"Well, living stones sound far more exciting than the good-old-fashioned dead ones," Dwin replied with a smile, feeling as if she had met a kindred soul. Life without a bit of creativity to colour it was not interesting. She had guessed correctly that all of the amazing stories she had heard about notable Blackthorns and Redleafs were distilled and concentrated versions of their lives. It could not be so that every single day of the 5 or 7 or more years they had spent on this Earth had been filled with adventures and epic things. Even in her life the proportion of truly amazing and memorable things happening was diluted by many days of boredom and routine stuff that you could only characterize in one word "normal". 

"What do you think they would tell you, if they were alive?" she suggested. 
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Well, Reverie began, delighted by the question. I hope they would tell me about - everything they've seen. So much history! I've always loved hearing about the past. Imagine hearing it from someone who has really seen it - things that happened whole lifetimes ago! If only! But she would have to settle for stories passed down, what few things people bothered to remember. Her parents had greatly valued their own stories of their past, but she knew enough now to look back and see that those stories were filtered and warped heavily.
One day, though, Reverie would collect real stories. Real histories.
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Brecheliant
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"Do you think stones would be like us - capable of lying? Or not telling the whole truth. Or telling from a perspective of a stone," Dwin mused. After all we all tell the stories in such a way that is important to us and we omit the details of, what we do not think are important. "Maybe they would tell you all the history of, how moss is growing on them or how there has once been an anthill nearby and those ants have run up and down the stone. OR... that there are grubs underneath them, tickling their feet," she suggested. "And maybe, if any wolves had ever lived nearby, the stone would not have paid any attention to them," she finished. 

Post 200 goes to you!
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Reverie pondered all that Dwin had said for a moment. I would love to hear about any of those things, She said, and meant it. Even the smallest details of life were still — life, and valuable, and infinitely interesting. Even if it's lies, or half-truths - I guess talking stones would be like anything else that talks, so maybe some of them would lie. But I wouldn't mind. If you pay attention, you can always find some kind of truth in the lies people choose to tell. Reverie disliked such guessing games, but she could no longer see even her own childhood in any other light. Sometimes the only thing that could be done to understand a person was guess.
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"I nearly agree," Dwin nodded, after hearing, what Reverie had had to say on the topic. "I think that, while lying is morally wrong - at least that's, what my parents say - truth isn't always as interesting or exciting. It could be horrible too," she dwelled on the topic. "Or things rarely are as amazing in real life as in one's imagination. I thought that my travelling would be all crazy adventures like they tell in stories, but it has not been like that. Interesting - certainly, but very different," she said. "I would prefer an improved version of truth any day than the actual one. Unless... unless it was something very, very important. Then it probably is going to be different. Somehow," she sighed. 

"You know, I think that with this is like with the rule of magic. If you have magic powers then almost certainly somewhere someone will have them too," she told. "And just because you decide to do good stuff with them, does not mean the other gifted one will do the same," she said. "Ever wished to have a superpower?"
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So, Dwin preferred lies? Reverie found this difficult to grasp, though she listened attentively and nodded slightly to show her engagement. She had heard enough lies in her life to accept them as an essential part of it by now, but she still didn't like it. She didn't think she ever would. Truth, denied to her all her life until she left The Gilded Sea, was what she truly sought now that she was free to do as she pleased. Her own truth, primarily, but she wanted it from the world too. She would dig it out herself in blood and mess if she had to.
But Dwin was going on about magic now! Oh, yes - I wish I could fly! It wasn't a superpower for birds, she thought, but for a wolf it would be. What about you? It was a meager response to Dwin's absolute whirlwind of words, but Reverie preferred to listen.
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Dwin was comfortable in claiming that giving boring truth some colours was preferable, because she had not experienced the devastating effect lies told to deceive people or trick something out of them. Therefore had Reverie chosen to vehemently argue and disagree with her take on story-telling, she would have listened with great interest and drawn very different conclusions.

"Flying the way you are now with some fancy fairy dust sprinkled on you or being given wings?" she thought that the latter was practical, because dust could always come to an end and it was more like floating than flying. On the other hand - wings could become a burden too. Hiding properly in the undergrowth... that would a be a disadvantage. 

"I dunno. I like the way I am now, though I would like to be able to teleport. You know - I am here now, then there is a flash and I am over that mountain range in an entirely different place. In an instant," she said.