|| closed starter for @luna-mxth
The last thing Nelgorn, once-prince, now-exile, remembered was the sting of rejection. He’d tried to join the Dread Wolf’s rebellion— he knew what his family was doing was wrong. His grandmother murdered even before his birth, what remained soured before he’d even existed. And then, denied a place where he should have stood. With his people, against tyranny. But Fen’harel— or, rather, his General— hadn’t seen fit to let him join. Said they could not trust him, said he was too young and foolish. Said he wasn’t ready. Then… a blur. He’d found his way to… something, certainly. It seemed like enough of a bed. He had some belongings— his lute, his crown, a dagger and a little wooden halla (a gift from June’s own workshop, on the occasion of the boy’s birth). Then, darkness.
It was the sound that awoke him first, or so he thought. The crack of stone, the falling of rubble. Soft footsteps around what had become his tomb. The young mage was far too disoriented to even think of sitting up for the moment, let alone open his eyes. He could hear… was someone speaking? In such an odd version of his mother tongue, too. He could hear the clatter of metal around the room; someone had knocked over an urn, most likely. There would be a mess for him to clean up. There were, after all, no servants in a rebellion.
An eye cracked open, finally, and a soft ‘mamae’ left his lips. But when his vision focused, it was not his mother standing over him. His gaze met the face of a stranger. Vibrant red hair, gold eyes… pointed ears. One of his own. Hopefully. His eyes flicked up, where her hands hovered over his brow, then back to her own gaze. “What are you doing?” he asked quickly. “Who are you? Did my mother send you?” His heart raced. Had he been found out? Was he being taken back to the palace to face judgment? “Or my grandfather?” Nelgorn grunted as he pushed himself up, reeling once he was upright. “And what do you want with this?” He gestured to the diadem still on his head.