Winds of Change; Kylin and Kharon

[Reilly]

She had come to him and he couldn't control the small smile that tugged the edges of his lips when he saw her, just as he couldn't ignore the way his rebellious heart beat just a little quicker as she approached him. She was just so damn lovely with her small frame, locks waving lightly with every step, and the way the colors in her coat catch the light of the sun. Those brown eyes, still so dull with her inner pain, jerk at his insides-- one day they would brighten again, he found himself thinking.

And yet, as she loomed closer to him, he could see there was a spark of purpose in them. And his gaze had then fallen to the lavender babes at her side. Ah, so there is a reason she came to him this morning, he realized, and it wasn't to come visit him or join him in his breakfast grazing. He was filled with some sense of honor when she asked him to watch over them for a while, though it was quickly clouded by nerves and concern. He'd never really been around too many children, having much preferred company of drinking age or solitude. He didn't know how to entertain... what would he do with them? What if they got hurt, or lost? Bloody hell, but those eyes of hers did something to him that he had no explanation for. It was so unsettling, all these new feelings for a person. For her. Only she could do this to him, somehow he just knows.

Yet, those lovely coffee colored orbs of hers spoke the real meaning of her request, and he knew he couldn't deny her. Wouldn't. She needed time to be alone, for reasons he could only imagine. But she needed, and she had come to him. The unspoken trust in that request had him filling to the brim with something warm and smooth, and for once the sensation had nothing to do with his ability. And so, still slightly reluctantly, he sighed and accepted. As she went off to do whatever it was she needed to do, he lowered his head to her kids and smiled as he tousled their little manes, before leading them to a meadow near one of Ischia's beaches where they could romp and he could keep an eye on them as he resumed his morning graze.

@[~Sapphire~] & @[Toli]

[Kharon]

I'm just an angel that's fallen from grace

He could hear his thoughts. He knew Reilly thought mother beautiful, loved those plain, brown eyes of hers and the plain, brown hair. Maybe he even loved the rest of her too, but he couldn't be sure. Not from just today's thinking. But Reilly liked them too, and that felt good. It felt good when he ruffled through their manes and breathed into their hair. He beamed up at him happily as he bumped his little nose at him, completely content in the Irishman's big presence.

From that time before, when he'd heard the other voice in momma's head and saw the pain in her reaction, he had learned that this thing he could do was not normal. And that it was bad. It made her hurt to speak her thoughts, and so he never let on again that he could. But he couldn't seem to shut it off, and so he listened without comment. Listened to Reilly think on all things he liked about mother. Listened to Kylin think on all the things she liked about him.

And he liked that.

He liked that she cared so much about him, that she felt comfortable and safe at his side even though they were both still so young. He liked that his touch meant something to her each time he brushed a wing over her back as they followed Reilly. So he did it again, just to hear her. He listened to her with a warmth growing in his chest as he spoke to Reilly.

Will you always be here, Reilly? Suddenly, this was very important to him. Reilly was the closest thing to a father they had, and he wasn't really attached to momma, so maybe he'd be leaving them. His wing brushed over Kylin again, a small smile pinching the corner of his mouth. He leaned to sweep his nose faintly against her cheek, just to see how she responded, just to listen to her thoughts.

I don't want you to ever leave, he told the man solemnly as they continued walking by his side. He dug into his memory for things momma might have thought about Reilly, wondered if there was something he could say that would keep him here with them. But her thoughts had hurt her to tell them, so maybe he shouldn't. Maybe one day he'd know a way to tell if one thought would not hurt like others seemed to. So for now, he kept them to himself.

image © brenda del rio photography