The Portal
07-15-2017, 05:47 PM
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She imagines them as stars, the eyes, blinking and twinkling, and stars don't have teeth, so neither must the eyes. It is the sudden happenings that interrupt her, a jarring sense of darkness, and the amulet woven into her mane, the beautiful ice blue stone set within its sterling setting, vibrates for a mere second before disappearing into a breath of black smoke. She had found that small prize jutting from the ice shortly after her arrival to the Basin, so its vanishing pulls at a heart string. But across her skin she feels lightening, and the electricity buries into her muscles, and for a moment she believes it will overtake her. It subsides nearly as soon as it begins, and she notices the pallid glow across her mane and tail, and she is enamored with the new galaxies strung out across her curves. But now is not time for vanity, so she shakes herself free from the self-reflection, and continues on her way, again calling out those two names.
A crashing pulls her attention, something thrashing in the underbrush, but before she can bear her sword, out emerges a yearling. Fright has rimmed his eyes with white, and though her defenses remain guarded, she smiles, though the expression is markedly sad. Who is Tandavi? A parent, a sibling, a companion? She never quite got to names upon the Thistle Meadow when she had happened upon the copper mare. "No, darling, I haven't. But I'm looking for loved ones, myself. Come," she gestured, pulling her head towards her, beckoning him closer, "we can look together."
Her own name cuts through the clearing, and her heart sings. He emerges from the darkness, and as he wraps himself around her, she nestles close, pressing a kiss against his neck, and the rhythmic twinkling on her hide seems to increase its tempo to chase the fluttering in her chest. "Oh, Mesec, I thought I had lost you again." The pain of separation eases, and though their daughter is still missing, he is here, and together they can find her. They will find her. He pulls away from her, and she turns to face the colt, keeping her shoulder close to Mesec's, close enough that either may lean and feel the other, and she finds comfort knowing that he is so close.
The trio turns to four, and the Firedancer emerges from the forest, yelling for Mesec. And then, the first beauty she has seen in this place unfolds as mother is reunited with child. Her heart aches for Vesper, for Virga, but despite all of the destruction, these two have been brought back together, one more strand reconnecting, one less bought of grief. Then the copper speaks again.
'I can't find your daughters.' Daughters? Plural? No, that can't be right. But maybe it is. Maybe it had been foolish to believe that she was anything more than just a one night stand that ended in something less-than-fleeting. Maybe her children were an accident, and he was simply being a good man, a good father, treating the mother of his children with chivalrous respect. Still, her heart breaks at the thought. It makes her heart sink, makes her stomach convulse, and she casts a look at Mesec. The look is gentle, but her face is sad, despite the smile that touches her lips. Despite the confusion and hurt that settles upon her shoulders, she reaches out again, placing a reassuring touch upon his neck. "We will find both of them," she softly promises. "Don't worry." Easier said than done. Vesper and a nameless daughter, hopefully lost together, so neither needs to face this new world alone. That is the best she can hope for.
The earth seems to shake, and churn, and it reaches out at the three who have joined her, culminating in shadows and darkness. The air seems to vibrate, and the celestial mare dances backwards, eyes wide in fright and shock, as it overcomes him. Before she can react, missing the tooth sailing in between his ribs, barely having time to take in his transformation, she notices the ground is shaking, and her eyes shoot towards the heaving nightmare as it steps clean into the pale glowing light. But it doesn't have eyes for her, it craves the one who has held her pieces together.
"NO!" The word is screamed, thundered, begging, and she leaps forward. She moves to defend him, fight beside him, die with him. She may be cast aside, and she knows there is a chance that she may meet the same fate as those left behind in Helovia, but she doesn't care. She doesn't care because even if she is an afterthought, even if she was just a womb, even if she was no more than a friend, she wouldn't stand by and watch him die. She wouldn't live knowing that she hadn't done her best to protect the one who she loves. She rears, whinnying a fearsome battle cry, and from the darkness beside her springs two glittering illuminated electrified wolves, snapping and popping crackles erupting from their toothy jaws, and they leap forward, aiming for the monster, and she hopes that as they erupt upon its hide that they burn with all the fierceness that burns within her.
She will not face more loss. Not today.
If I had only felt how it feels to be yours, I would have known what I've been living for
