A Starlit Ballet

It had already been some months since the start of the Trial of the Shield. It had been an exhilarating moment  for Valkyrie, shared her beloved Sisters, taking the first steps beyond the familiarity of the ice-capped peaks and cut granite roads of Sunnmøre. There was an amount of anticipation however, which had clouded and concerned her throughout the event, that her return would mark the first of many expected successes. That meant, without the prize expected, there should be no return. Everything that she had ever known and trusted lay beneath those cloud girthed cliffs. All of her knowledge and the understanding that she had formed about the world outside, had both been moulded and manipulated there, conditioned into her without the threat of external contamination; the bonds she had formed allowed only the interaction, and loving, of one another within the Sisterhood - in a sense, their dynamics were incestuous and immoral, defying the very honour they hoped in fact, to achieve. Valkyrie knew no better. She knew no other word than that preached by the High-Maiden and her Advisors; she understood that her life, was crafted by, thus owned by the Shieldmaidens. She was indebted. For the sake of the women of Loorien. The young horse had departed the strange Portal realm and the great rainforest that flanked it at last, with the bold intention of finding the cooler summit that Roscorro had mentioned a good time ago, somewhere away to the west. She had tried a good number of times to clean away the filth of her merry travels - the mud, the salt and the stains - yet even the icy fingers of the murky black ocean seemed incapable of curing her vain discomfort. For the first few days, she made a futile attempt to travel by night; for the sun’s scorching touch burnt painful blisters into her skin. It became quickly apparent that travel through the night alone was too slow though, so she was forced to brave each fierce day in addition, and rest only when she could bear the weight of exhaustion no longer. All too rapidly, Valkyrie grew a deep loathing for the sun, the heat and the putrid, ever-present humidity - and nausea that their combination stirred within her. Many times she wanted to abandon the idea, throw hope to the screeching vermin that often stalked her path; they were horrid beasts, that appeared as though out of nowhere, in flocks whose numbers easily rivalled the haze of filthy flies calling her home. Whenever they converged, chattering and screeching in their ear-splitting way, she found her self paralysed and quite without the ability to flee. As if to rub salt into the wound, the itch that was left after their bloody, frenzied feeding, was probably the worst sensation she had ever known - the hours to follow nearly sent her insane. She did, however, eventually come across Ennunyenda, burrowed down invitingly beneath an otherwise shadow-slick, sunbaked west. For a solid few days Valkyrie dabbled like a drunken child in their delightfully debilitating aromas, and should it not have been for the unclean surfaces she slipped and stumbled against (the grime and silt turning her precious appearance brown), she might have lingered there forever, without a further care in the world. At last the way seemed clearer; a great mountain rose like a beacon on the horizon and Valkyrie end endeavoured to find the quickest route she could, to it. The journey in full, would have taken at least a month or maybe more, but as the shadow of the magnificent summit fell upon her, embraced her at last, the mammoth, ridiculous effort it had taken, all seemed worthwhile. She could see from a distance, upon its vast sloping sides, a lush-looking forest of pines grew thick, yet different to the one that still remained for her to negotiate. Eagerly she began, fuelled by the theory that a great blue lake would be waiting on the other side, and as the level of her vibrant young excitement mounted, the acceleration of her hooves advanced. There was no lake to be found when the forest around her thinned, and her heart sank with dismay as she skidded to a clumsy halt, knee deep in swamp-mud. “Where is the water?” she pleaded pointlessly into the creaking, gurgling atmosphere, all the while racking her memory for the words the giant creature had spoken (of course she’d barely paid them heed). Beyond the sticky, stinking mire ahead, the lay of the land seemed to turn upwards and with her nose turned disgustedly towards the sky, she splashed in that direction; unavoidably lathering her legs and belly, in a thick dressing of the horrid stuff. Though the lake Roscorro had suggested, did truly exist, Valkyrie turned began to wander, disheartened. There was no denying she was lost, and as the level of her fatigue (both mental and physical), began to climax, she sought shelter from the dying day on the wooded slopes of the mountain. She needed to regroup… A sharp crack and the rustle of leaves nearby pulled the Daughter from sleep. Night had fallen some time ago, and the air was filled with the sound of frogs croaking below, and crickets scattered throughout the mesh of needles across the ground; with ears perfectly pricked and eyes adjusting slowly to the misty darkness, the Daughter stepped from her shelter and began to climb upwards. With any luck, a map of constellations would be present to perhaps help her pick the best course, home. The closer she neared to the top of the curious mountain, the fresher the air and the better she felt. Gulping hungrily she breached a crest and found to her surprise, both an entirely new landscape nestled inside a crater, and a stranger - easily the more captivating of the two. She moved with such fluid grace, like singing wind as it sailed smoothly through the highest mountain crags; her coat mirrored the sparkling night sky far above and more, entrancing hues shifted across her and shadows kissed with such tenderness as the heels that flicked silently behind her stride. The creature, with a mane and tail maybe longer than the High-Maiden’s (it was important, it meant superiority and splendidness above all else), was irresistible, and the Daughter dropped down from the rim to find her. “Hello there, excuse me… please!” she called through the dim air between them, lifting her knees to a swifter, smoother speed. Of course, she was a woman, nothing so perfect could ever be man. (ooc: I'm sorry for the length .___. - tldr - she arrives in the crater of the volcanoe and calls out, running towards K'yarie)