there's been trials and tribulations

Noëlle When father had finally fallen asleep, the child’s mind would wander where she knew not. To the places of the shadows, where various forms gathered from her scrambling eyesight – trying to form bodies and shapes to the things she couldn’t quite grasp. She would try to make stories of them, of the eyes that peered through the veil. More often than not, her thoughts returned to her mother. Her eyes would shift to the glass horn between her forelegs, and prompt her to rest her head against its edges. Odd, vibrant dreams would fill her head that first week in the Rift. Dreams where mother hadn’t left, where the green smoke gave her life – and her eyes enveloped her gaze with a steady, yearning stare. Now, as the days continued to roll on – the dreams had stopped. Leaving its hollow presence unfilled, as the child stared into the shadows. Noëlle could feel it now, and all the imagination in the world did not sate the missing parts of her. Carefully, daringly, she slowly peeled herself from her father’s side that night. Bracing for the coughs from her chest, so as not to wake him. Quiet, cloven hooves carefully embarked towards the ocean. Escaping the suffocating forests, the empty shadow and the lights. As long as father wasn’t aware of her departure, as long as she was careful – he would never know of her brazen adventures; anything, something to ignore the empty. Before breaching past the rocky, open surfaces – she spotted the two at the edge. Noëlle pressed against the closest tree, observing their forms and the words she could catch. Her ears flickered, as the taller of the two broke the air with a rather booming voice. It was pleasant, feminine, giving the child some reassurance that they might be travelers and vagabonds like her. Uncertain still, she carefully approached past the trees. She was careful to displace her weight evenly with each step, hoping that her presence would remain unknown for a few more minutes. And that they would remain unnoticed between the crashing waves, and the constant buzz and clicks of the forest behind her. Stopping, several lengths behind – with her heart thumping slightly above baseline. She thought it peculiar that creatures also accompanied them. But in the neon light, in the darkness obscured by the constant pour of rain – it was hard to make out what they were. Encouraged by the thought of finding other foals, her soft voice stretched out to greet them. “See anything inter-esting out there?”   -- ❀

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