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[Vi]

The world around her was dark as she lay in place where the sea had spat her out. The blue mare trembled as she stepped forth from the froth, the current tugging at her hooves begging her to return to it’s embrace. She could not remember the moments before the one she’d only just fallen into. Exhaustion traced itself along the length of her and she shied away from the touch of the summer wind. There was a familiarity carried upon the breeze, like a forgotten memory she couldn’t quite place.

Stumbling out beyond the reach of the waves she fell to her knees upon the coarse sand. Beneath her, she felt the crunch of shells as the weight of her body landed upon them. Their sharp edges bored into her like teeth. She wanted to move away from them but, no matter how hard she tried, she could not find the strength to do so.

Without her vision, she felt helpless against the sudden change of her fate. She was back in the ocean once more, powerless to change direction of the tide. To not be able to see – to feel creatures brushing along her legs. She shuttered at the memory.

There were so many questions. Where was she, who was she and where had she been? As she tried to recall the events of her past she was met with a darkness even stronger than that of her blindness. Her name was Vi, and that was all she could remember.

@[Sid] She's back

[Scorch]

WATCH THE FLAMES CLIMB HIGH INTO THE NIGHT

The sea had been spitting out her loved ones like chewing tobacco, it would seem. But by God, she was not complaining. Ever since she'd vowed to be a better parent after failing to properly raise her eldest twin daughters, family had been of the utmost importance to the hairless rat; it went beyond reason to ever question her loyalty and devotion to the individuals who counted themselves among the rankings of that group. Scorch didn't do things half-assedly; especially not love.

As the summer sun began rose that morning (for should not all new adventures begin in the morning?), Scorch journeyed along the coast line of Nerine towards the field, thinking that she might first visit Ischia and see how the mutiny there is going with Brennen and all. But it would seem that the universe held far different plans for her; for just as she passed beyond the scent-lines of Hyaline, the beach sands beneath her grew suddenly cold despite the sunlight.

She halted, feeling her skin prickle eerily; ears, twitching madly, attempted to pick up a sound that would direct her towards the source of this uncanny sensation. But what at last lead her to creep further towards the water, sand turning to unforgiving pebbles beneath her, was the scent: daughter.

"Vi!" At the sight of her blue figure strewn hazardously across the rocks, all of Scorch's superstitious caution was replaced by the panic that only mother's knew. Scrambling to close the distance between them, Scorch nickered to the mare repeatedly, praying to all the Gods she knew that her youngest daughter would be alive and breathing, not drowned and gone from this earth.

Slam. She knelt next to her daughter, ignoring the stabbing pain of the rocks into her bare, unprotected knees; her mouth moved desperately against Vi, prodding and nudging and kissing along her face and throat, needing some sort of reaction, needing her daughter to take a breath and to open her beautiful blue eyes. (Blue, as she remembered them.)

"I'm here Vi, your mother, Scorch," She choked, though not because she knew of Vi's blindness; more because, as the adrenaline coursed through her, she couldn't help but ramble. "Please get up baby, I'll take care of you I swear..."

Did I mention an undying devotion to her family? I think I did.

Scorch

Once Khaleesi of the Amazon Jungle

@[Vi] <3

[Vi]

Exhaustion clung to her body as the sun grew warmer upon the dark blue of her pelt. For a long while, she laid helplessly among the crabs, listening to the gentle pattering of their movements around her. Eyes closed against the unforgiving rays of the summer sun overhead, she could feel a gentle coolness to the breeze. The changing of the season was upon them. The dark world around her felt oddly familiar as she lay in wait, contemplating which direction she should try first. All of them felt equally daunting - all of them except the silent return into the sea. Lapping gently at her hind end, the waves beckoned her towards the only piece of familiarity she had left. It's chilling embrace was almost welcoming against her sand clung form.
 
Still, she remained unmoving and uncertain.
 
There was no way to mark the change of time, except for by the intensity of the suns light against the shadow of her blindness. Dark figures were all that made up her world now and with no way of knowing friend or foe, she was not confident in her fate.
 
It did not take long for the heavy footfalls of another to stretch across the span of sand and into the pits of her hearing. The approaching equine's pace was leisurely at first, as though unsure of the destination of her feet. The wind shifted as the figure drew nearer and Vi tensed against the familiarity of the stranger. The soft perfume of the stranger wrapped around her like the warm embrace of a mother. It reminded her of hot, smothering days within the fold of a thousand tropical trees. Of a childhood fraught with wonder and uncertainty. Despite the hope she held within her heart, she knew that it could not be possible that her mother still lived.
 
Still a slight distance away, her name drifted across the sand with urgency as the stranger recognized her almost instantly. The voice hit her like a clap of thunder, leaving her breathless. Too weak to move she waited as the motherly scent neared to linger just above her prone body. Cotton grew within the back of her throat as Scorch's emotion filled the space between them. At the mare's leathery touch, Vi trembled.
 
How long had it been and to be found once more upon the shore of the place of her birth. A lone tear slid free from her heavily lidded eye. Even though the action was in vain, she lifted her gaze towards the voice - pointing her sightless pale eyes upon her mother. Desperately she wished to see her once more. To see the love within the mare's gaze. Instead, she imagined it as it once was when she was a foal - knobby-kneed and, probably, slightly ugly.
 
"M - mother?" she whispered hoarsely into the void between them. "I - I'm home."

VI

lights will guide you home

@[Scorch]

[Scorch]

WATCH THE FLAMES CLIMB HIGH INTO THE NIGHT

For Scorch, there'd been only one time when she felt powerless to the pull of her metaphorical ocean, subject to the whim of its tide. When her mother had been murdered, she'd been passionately dejected of all things - loudly daring death to come find her. But what had left her crippled and careless to the fates had been the birth of her stillborn daughter, Rain, decades ago in the Valley where she'd been kept captive for a year at that time. She'd tried to fight off the wolves who came to scavenge the filly's body, but all that'd been left when they over powered her had been two rib bones. Taking her with them back to the Jungle, the magic of that land had placed the bones in tattoos across her chest, to be remembered forever... And had it not been for the solace offered to her by her best friend Kagerou, who'd also lost a child that spring, she would have been like Vi: lying prone on the cusp between death and life, bleary-eyed and utterly without the strength in her very lungs to take a single more breath.

But as Kag had been to Scorch, so too would Scorch be to her daughter: that little reminder that there is something to live for: that even after tragedy, there is joy to be had. (For if she had given up after Rain, their family would be without eight of its children; Vi would not be here at all.)

For the first time since she'd died, she watches her youngest daughter move, a terrible tremor running through her blue figure as her mother wrapped her up in an embrace far more powerful than any attack could ever be. Memories of her old home in the Jungle came rushing back to the mare as the scent of Vi flooded her nostrils - memories especially of her last year of life, of how she'd tried her best to be the young, active mother she'd been for her other children, and of how she'd been more of the mom you come home to tell stories of your adventures to, who would smile and kiss you, but not truly comprehend exactly what was being said to her.

She understood now; she understood now.

When Vi moved to lift her head, Scorch quickly removed the weight of her embrace to allow her the freedom to do so. When she caught sight of her daughter's milky eyes, her vision swam wetly with tears, and she pressed kisses to the orbs as both their tears mingled. Her powerful chest shook with sobs, but as Vi's voice came hoarsely, they calmed some as she realized that her daughter was okay.

"Yes baby, you're home,"" she crooned softly, again laying her head against the mare's sea-warm neck. "You need to try to get up okay?" She squeezed the girl, trying to remind her what there was left to live for. "I'll be right here to guide you, I won't let you fall."

How great a mother's love; how unfailing, even through death itself.

Heaving herself up, Scorch clambered to her hooves, ignoring the small rivulets of blood that ran down her knees where she'd slammed them into the stony shore. Reaching down, she blew hot air across Vi's face as she nibbled and groomed her - it truly was as if Vi had just been born. But in a way, she had been.

"Come on now, I believe in you."

Scorch

Once Khaleesi of the Amazon Jungle

@[Vi] <3

[Vi]

It felt impossible that, somehow, the ocean would deliver back into the arms of her mother. For a moment, she imagined that she was a child only just born – shivering cold as the caressing breeze of spring brushed along the soppy wet of her body. Looming above her, she could barely make out the lurking shadow of her mother, looking down upon her helplessly. A sob grabbed at the base of her chest and she flinched against the power of it.

One thousand emotions tore through her as she imagined the pain her lost years must have caused her mother. Though the answers she sought kept themselves concealed from her, Vi knew she had not been upon Beqanna. A sudden urgency enveloped her and the blue mare’s head jolted out of the wet sand beneath her. Upon her mother’s encouragement she felt strength slowly beginning to return to her limbs. Drawing them up under her, she ignored the sharp pain that coursed through her body as she threw herself up. As her trembling intensified she leaned against the offered side of her mother finding comfort in the slick touch of her bare skin.

The memory of her mother’s slick, burnt skin soothed away the sudden panic she’d felt only a short moment ago. As a child she’d been oblivious to the shocked stared her mother had received. It never bothered her because she saw the truth behind the scars. She’d always been a loving mother, always excited to listen to her chattering at the end of every day. Looking back, she blushed to admit that her stories weren’t at all as interesting as she thought they’d been. Her last memory was one when she was still quite young and a knobby kneed Reshi clung to her side.

Her heart ached. What had become of her beautiful daughter. Was she well?

“Mother…” her voice trailed off as she braced herself against any potential reality. “Where is my Reshi?”

VI

lights will guide you home

@[Scorch] and... @[Reshi], I'm just going to leave this here... *slowly backs away*