Thursday: Seasons

[nagi_schwarz]

Hello, everyone. I’m nagi_schwarz, your host for the week. So much gratitude to everyone who has left and filled prompts these past two weeks! Today's theme is seasons. Prompts can be anything from the four seasons to the holiday season to the busy season or exam season.

Just a few rules:
No more than five prompts in a row.
No more than three prompts in the same fandom.
Use the character's full names and the fandom's full name
No spoilers in prompts for a month after airing, or use the spoiler cut option found here. Unfortunately, DW doesn’t have a cut tag, so use your best judgment when it comes to spoilers.
If your fill contains spoilers, warn and leave plenty of space, or use the above-mentioned spoiler cut.

Prompts should be formatted as follows: [Use the character's full names and fandom's full name]
Fandom, Character +/ Character, Prompt

Some examples to get the ball rolling...
+ Any, any, busy season
+ Any, any, the off-season
+ Any, any, Summer in the City (Lovin’ Spoonful)

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While the use of LJ's advanced search and DW’s archive are options, bookmarking the links of prompts you like might work better for searching in the future.

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tag=seasons

Comments

[creepy_shetan]

author's choice, any character who tends to travel a lot, staying in one place long enough to watch the changing of the seasons

Fill: The Three Lands (original fiction)

[duskpeterson]

STILLNESS

It had been years since he had stayed anyplace long enough to watch the seasons change.

Andrew – Ambassador of the God's Land, whose missions of diplomacy and espionage kept the Great Peninsula at peace – sat on a cliff, his legs dangling over. His eyes squinted at the stars, slow heralds of what was to come. The wind off the waters was cool; the ground beneath him was frigid.

It felt pleasant, in contrast to the blizzards he had endured that winter. The barbarian north was no place for a peninsularean, his sister had once scolded him. He had given her one of his rare smiles, knowing that she was encouraging him to stay home. They all were – every one of them, from his commoner friends to the rulers of Koretia and Emor. Daxis's King would have wanted that too, he supposed, if the King weren't dead.

There was a change now. He couldn't see it, but the all-knowing birds, friends of the divine Owl and Raven, sensed the change. They began to sing – first one lone nightingale, then a timid lark, and finally a chorus of robins. The seabirds upon the water were beginning to rise, flapping their great wings. It was coming.

He had spent so many years now in the barbarian north – far more than his work justified. Although Emor's imperial ruler desired peace with the barbarian tribes who lived on the mainland next to the empire's borders, war was far more likely to come between Emor, Koretia, and Daxis – the Three Lands of the Great Peninsula, forever quarrelling. It was there that he was needed most.

Forever restless, forever seeking something nameless he couldn't find, he spent little time in his homeland of Koretia. His blood brother, the ruler and god-man of Koretia, must mourn his absence, but his blood brother said nothing, wise in his silence. The ruler of Emor, on the other hand, made sharp remarks about Andrew's frequent absences, though he too was a friend of Andrew's. And then there was Andrew's sister, with grief in her past and joy in her present, who would have gladly shared her spirit with Andrew, if he were only there for more than a few days at a time.

The chorus had reached its peak. The stars were paling, having delivered their clarion call of the arrival of him who was greater than them. Last seen disappearing over the waterfall at the edge of the world, the Sun began to rise beyond the mainland mountains, making his godly entrance once more. He was not yet in sight.

Something touched Andrew, both soft and firm. Andrew said, without turning his head, "I thought you planned to sleep late this morning."

"I did, till I woke up and found you gone." The Queen of Daxis sat down beside him, her scarlet skirt vivid in the starlight. "I've never seen a sunrise from here. You chose a good spot."

He could hear now, far behind them, the sound of her guard, keeping silent so as not to disturb the royal couple. Andrew, Consort to the ruler of Daxis, put his arm around his new wife. "I've never watched on this particular day, but I've heard— Yes, there, see? Between those two mountains."

Like an entranceway for royalty, the two dark mountains standing sentinel on the mainland across the waters were eclipsed for one bright, glorious moment as the Sun rose directly between them, blazoning the first day of spring.

Andrew turned his head to kiss his beloved wife. There was no rush to leave here. No rush to go anywhere, when he had so much now to stay home for.

Re: Fill: The Three Lands (original fiction)

[creepy_shetan]

This sounds like an interesting (and complicated!) world you've created. I'm glad Andrew got a moment of peace watching the sunrise from a cool vantage point and can spend some time at home. Thanks for the fill!

Re: Fill: The Three Lands (original fiction)

[duskpeterson]

I'm glad you liked it. I hope it wasn't too complicated. I try to make all of my stories so that they can be read as stand-alones, but Andrew's thoughts were just pouring out in this one.

Re: Fill: The Three Lands (original fiction)

[nagi_schwarz]

Thank you for the fill! Very cool world-building.

Re: Fill: The Three Lands (original fiction)

[duskpeterson]

Thank you for your kind words!