Fever Dreaming

It might have been the unexpectedly inscrutable note of her voice that brought the haughty Shieldmaiden tumbling from the pedestal of self-impressed supremacy that she’d been grand-standing upon; maybe it was the thin, nearly translucent film of derision that was wrapped around the bull-horned woman’s suddenly sour words. Either way, the smaller found herself humbled momentarily, clamping blunt molars down hard against the thoughts that begged to barrel forward into thoughtless existence—if there was any chance of appealing to the other’s desire for justice, for partnership, she would need to tread a little more carefully. Valkyrie cleared her throat, swapping the uncharitable smile, for a slow nod that emanated better a sense of warmth and empathy. She hoped... “Yes, it has been raining for a long time,” she admitted, nurturing a more sensitive tone as she addressed the stranger’s apparent dislike of the Rift’s current climate. Directing her striking gaze towards the silvery eyes of her company, the pegasus aimed still more to soothe her. “I have seen months of baking heat though too, so hopefully it will ease soon.” Of course, Drench’s lasting downpour would only ever get worse for the thicker horse, if less than an hour’s soaking had already managed to dampen her mood. Ivory shoulders rolled briefly, dismissing the subject—it wasn’t particularly relevant to her agenda anyway. “There is better shelter beyond here,” she began, steering their conversation down a new and more focused path; so too did she arrogantly presume that the yet to be named companion, might potentially turn the afore offered invitation down. “Forests, caves, and mountains too. All the usual stuff,” Valkyrie continued, carefully altering the pitch of her voice to emphasise that any place should be more appealing than the Portal. That ingrained impatience began to scratch through the surface of her manipulated demeanour. “The Sisterhood holds residence in the far north... Shall we go there now?” The slender ears atop her winged, helmed cranium pressed forward expectantly, wholly awaiting the mare’s affirmation that their journey should at last begin. Where they would venture beyond the north still lacked detail...

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