Seraphina Nightwing's Arc

Chapter 8 of 9

With the seventh seat secured, Seraphina rode home through a quiet dawn. The blue roan stallion carried her low over the ridges, his lightning markings dim in the soft light. A bright bird of fire wheeled ahead, leading her past the training fields toward a far meadow she had not yet walked. She felt the pull of the shimmering tree behind her, but the phoenix wanted her elsewhere. The stallion landed in a high green basin ringed by pale cliffs. Two pegasus stood in the grass, drinking from a clear pool. Seraphina drew in a slow breath. Their coats were not the colors of any horse she had ever seen. The mare shone deep violet, with silver markings that glowed along her flanks. The stallion was sunrise gold, with bright white lines that pulsed like slow heartbeats down his legs. She slid down and walked forward with empty hands. The royal pair lifted their heads but did not move away. The phoenix circled once above them and settled on a stone. Seraphina spoke low. She offered no rope. She only stood, the way she had learned to stand, and waited until the mare stepped forward and pressed her warm nose into her palm. By the next morning, her workers were already in the basin. She marked the ground where the pair had first stood. There, she set a tall bright star of crystal and gold, taller than a rider, so any traveler in the valley would know what reigned here. Near the pool, masons began a wide stone fountain shaped with two rearing pegasus, water rising between them, gems set into the basin in the colors of the royal pair's markings. At the head of the basin, against the pale cliff, she ordered a stable raised that was not like the others. Gold along its walls, blue jewels set into its high roof, doors wide enough for two winged kings. She would not house the Queen and King with the rest of the herd. They had come to her freely. They would live as what they were. When the last stone was set, Seraphina stood at the doors and watched the royal pair walk inside on their own. The phoenix lifted from its perch and flew back toward the mountains. She had her crown. She had her seats. Now, at last, she had the heart of the stable she had promised herself. The herd was no longer a hope. It had a Queen and King.