A Friendly Chat | Lyrica and Oriole | [Private]

The surface had been… an experience. It was the best way she could describe it. The trip wasn’t something she regretted, but in the same vein she was in no hurry to repeat it. The culture shock aside (learning of the general Seroran illiteracy had definitely been a shock in itself), the sun and exposure had been a lot to deal with for a horse that had always lived underground. Her coat was still slightly bleached around her muzzle and flanks, a reddish tinge to the usual glossy black belying that she’d been on the surface for some time, and every time she thought that she’d finally removed all the grains of sand that had accumulated in her coat, feathers and belongings she seemed to be proven wrong. Still, she was glad to be home.

Or at least as glad as she could be, given that home was about one infraction short of a complete chaotic breakdown. Umare and Kawaru relations could never have been described as good, and now? Ha. She didn’t envy either Arisen right now, and poor Lyrica had been the only one there when everything took a noticeable turn for the worse – such were the joys of holding public office. Frankly, the whole ‘Arisen’ thing sounded like one long nightmare to Rori, but that was her personal opinion on the matter. She was sure that there were others that would consider life as a temple horse to be their own personal nightmare.

Regardless of her position on the position, she could still offer support where she could. As horses went, Lyrica wasn’t so bad and Rori would be lying if she said that she didn’t enjoy their philosophical chats over cups of tea. It was advantageous too, she supposed, to build up a strong rapport with a prominent member of the Kawaru, given her own background – she was waiting for that to come back and try to bite her, current circumstances considered.

“Good evening,” she greeted, dropping into a bow just as she always did. It wasn’t common practise amongst the Kawaru, but whilst she had managed to ditch some of her Umare-bred habits this was one that stuck and that importantly, she was letting stick; manners cost nothing after all. Her compromise was keeping it brief. At the invitation to enter she did so, stepping delicately over the threshold of Lyrica’s house which was, as ever, beautifully neat and tidy. “Another long day?” she asked, glancing back at the younger pegasus. 

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Rori twitched an ear at Lyrica’s uncertainty towards the bow, the only outward tell of a reaction to the other mare’s response. Whilst her external expression of calm neutrality didn’t alter, her inner self wore a slight sardonic smile; she found some amusement in observing all of the different reactions of horses, often cataloguing them internally and reflecting on what it said about each individual. It said a lot about a horse in such an elevated position to be deflecting the respect that would usually have been demanded in Umare.

“If I considered it undue I wouldn’t bow,” she said simply. “But you are an Arisen, after all.” Respect for rank had been ingrained into her from her birth and that aside, she had always found that the consequences of paying too much respect were far easier to deal with than those of not paying enough. She would argue as well, that there was a different between respecting the rank, and respecting the horse that held the rank, though that was hardly necessary here. She had no objections to Lyrica. She considered her perhaps a little young for her position, but that was hardly an opinion she held on Lyrica specifically. There were quite a few horses she deemed to be very young for their rank, both amongst the Kawaru and the Umare both.



She chuckled sympathetically as Lyrica divulged some of her problems, knowing the feeling all too well. “Or by themselves,” she added almost bitterly, her ears angling back somewhat as her expression soured. Yes, she knew the type all too well. A horse that demanded an immediate resolution to their, often self-inflicted, problem had been a common enough occurrence in the temple back in Nariah. “And Argus forbid that you should require them to take action themselves in order to solve it.” That had been her other greatest pet peeve – when she was able to offer a perfectly workable solution only for it to be rejected. It still was actually, she was just fortunate enough to not have as many horses to deal with, so she saw it in less frequency. There were times where the idea of physically puppeteering a horse to do what they needed to do sounded so much easier than trying to talk them into doing it themselves – too bad that wasn’t possible. And also highly unethical…



“Please,” she said in response to the offer of tea as she settled down comfortably. “So, are there any impending disasters I should be preparing for, or do you have them all under control for the moment?” she asked wryly.

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Rori thought a moment, before declining the offer of additions to her tea. She lacked the means to acquire them again with any kind of ease, so it would be for the best that she not acquire the taste for them. She accepted the offer cup graciously, inhaling the steam softly as she focused sharp yellow eyes on Lyrica as she listened to her vent some of her frustrations. 
"It is my experience that the more intelligent a horse, the less common sense they have," she stated, dropping her gaze to her tea and taking a sip. "It is unfortunate that they cannot invent a way to circumvent that," she stated idly. Wouldn't that by idyllic? She stared into the cup a moment longer before lifting her gaze back up to the Arisen. "I would counsel against seeking an alliance with Aodh. They're at war with Serora, I can't imagine it would go down to well with our allies closer to home, and the Umare hardly need another reason to brand us as heathens or heretics. Aodh is not a well-received name back in Nariah," she said, swirling her tea briefly. Truthfully she was wary of an alliance with the larger nation simply because of who they were, however much she was trying to manage that fearful prejudice. It still clung on, masquerading as reason and logic. "Maybe in time. A lot of time..." At least the Kawaru were likely to have things of interest to the opulent herd, if not the political clout to negotiate agreeable terms of trade. 

She huffed softly at the mention of stolen inventions, a few thoughts springing to her mind about how it was happening. She didn't air them, for she was sure that Lyrica would have already thought of them herself. The lure of shards would be too much for some horses, especially in a much more capitalistic society that she had discovered in Sterling, and the idea of a planted informer was hardly an uncommon idea - she herself still faced suspicion due to her origins. It was irritating, but hardly unfounded. The bigger questions was how you went about stopping this kind of behaviour, if that was even possible. 

She was silent when the pegasus spoke softly again, airing her concerns. Part of her felt privileged that she was trusted enough to be told such thoughts. She focused on the words, her silence extending as she mulled them over and thought about them, taking her time before she spoke again.
"We are not," she stated flatly. If the Umare were to take definitive action against the Kawaru, their chances of surviving were low. She could understand Lyrica's fears - she herself was wary of how the Umare would react if and when they should learn of the new alliance with Serora. If Sterling were to become self-sufficient, it would be much harder for the Umare to passively control them. They may even be branded as a threat; they had already been accused of the destruction of the main crystal in Nariah. It would not be much of a stretch for them to declare this allegiance against the interest of the general Breim herd, and take pre-emptive action. Extreme perhaps, but not outside the realms of possibility, and it seemed like the Umare were getting bolder. Or perhap just more afraid. 

"Perhaps in the future, Sterling might be able to resist. But now?" She simply shook her head. "Now we are still subject to their whims, they know it and so do we, even if some do not wish to accept that fact. To pretend otherwise could be deadly. For now, I think we are best to play the role they want us to, especially given recent circumstances." What with the crystal shattering, them striking up an undesirable alliance, and the arrest of Yozura and Arges, they were treading on very thin ice. Of course, pride was a deadly sin - no Kawaru was going to want to roll over to pacify the Narian elite. She was under no delusions that it was an unpopular opinion that she held. SHe herself didn't particularly care for it, but she considered herself objective, and she rather liked the idea of a prolonged existence. 

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