[private] we lay here for years or for hours, so long we become the flowers

[Ruhr]

Ruhr had watched the shapeshifter slip beneath the sea, and for a long time afterward had stood on the lonely stretch of beach, watching the sun climb over the horizon and turn the sky from grey to watercolor. The Moon rises with it, a full pale orb in the lavender and rose-pink sky. He watches as the clouds thin, as the plovers and pipers begin to dart across the sand and sky. He listens to the high thin cry of the gulls, and breathes deeply of the scent of golden meadows that blows from inland.

He turns toward the scent, feeling for the first time the ache of his empty belly, and makes his limping way up the beach and into the Gates. Ruhr does not venture too far from the sea, soon finding a shaded meadow and a clear sweet pond along a well-traveled path.

It does not take long for him to doze off, physically exhausted from his flight and lack of sleep, lulled by the warm air and a full belly.

He wakes to find a pretty stranger keeping watch as he sleeps.

She doesn’t even stay long enough to introduce herself after he wakes, only long enough to accept his thanks, and he spends the rest of the afternoon meandering slowly through the coastal lands. Not far from the trail that leads back to the beach, the feathered stallion stumbles across a perfectly circular pool.

A Sign. Could it really be?

He looks up, finding the Moon almost directly overhead. She has a vision for him, and he positions himself so that the glowing orb is centered in the water.

Ruhr watches his reflection. His eyes are as blue as the sky overhead, lacking any hint of clouds. He blinks, and his reflection blinks. Ruhr turns his head a little to the left.

His reflection does not.

Ruhr stops, feeling his breath catch in his chest.

At last. A vision. He had been right in interpreting the sign. She has forgiven him at last, has found him fit to grant Her sight. He breathes a sigh of relief, a smile turning up the edges of his mouth.

His reflection shakes its head, and as he lowers his head closer to the water, he sees that it is not quite his reflection. The feathers are the same - the shades of sunset - but the eyes are lighter, and the face is slimmer. The face transforms into a younger version, and he sees the whole body now, sees that it is a girl, sees her playing, jumping and kicking and gallivanting.

She catches up to another horse, one that he cannot quite make out. Her mother, Ruhr knows, the horse that he cannot see is the child’s mother. His child’s mother.

Please, He asks the Moon, show me the rest.

She does not answer, and the vision fades.

For a long time afterward, Ruhr remains staring into the circular pool.

Ruhr has no desire for a child, but as he stares into the empty depths, he is forced to admit to himself that the Moon’s desires supercede his own. The moment he acknowledges this to himself, a new vision appears.

The stallion straightens, peering into the water as the image of the young filly returns. This time, the vision expands, pulling back to show him the same palomino mare he’d met earlier in the day. Ruhr’s black eyes widen in recognition, and then the vision vanishes into darkness.

It is not a request that he would have expected from the Moon.
But who is he to say no?

ooc: part of an autoquest!

[Viszla]

Myrna suffocate the fire  i started-------------------- right when it kindles Her encounter with the denizen of Pangea had left her off balance. Not even Feather’s joyful presence at her side had been able to lighten her mood, and soon the blonde canine had wandered off in pursuit of more entertaining company. Finding the feathered stranger beside one her favorite pools had been unexpected. She’d started to apologize for disturbing him, only to realize that he was fast asleep. He was not someone she recognized, but she was relieved to find that he bore no resemblance at all to the most recent visitor she’d encountered. This one was smaller, more birdlike, with hair and wings like the sunset and feathers everywhere. A Stratosian, she surmised, having seen a few on her flights through Beqanna’s skies. She turns to leave him to his rest, and her front hoof snaps a twig - waking him. Myrna accepts his thanks for keeping watch with a short nod before she leaves, unwilling to admit that she’d actually been in the process of leaving. There was nothing here to keep watch for, she almost says…and then remembers Zain. Her thoughts are occupied with entities for the rest of the morning, of where they might be and how she might find them. The sound of someone approaching pulls her from her thoughts. It is the pegasus from earlier, who introduces himself as Ruhr. Myrna finds him a welcome distraction from the fact that she’s not the slightest idea of how to begin finding the entities other than by leaving the Gates to venture into other lands. The thought of leaving is terrifying, and so she is eagerly distracted by the stallion’s amusing claims of being blessed by the moon, and his fascinating stories of another world. He does not tell her of the vision he’d been shown, and as the night begins to fall, Myrna does not let herself think twice about taking the stranger to her bed. She deserves a distraction, she reminds herself. The feathered stallion is not her usual type, but he is charming, and there is something alluring about the gleam in his eyes. Some part of her knows the gleam is madness - is Lunacy. Myrna doesn’t mind. It’s only a temporary distraction, after all. When she wakes at midnight the moon has sunk beneath the horizon, and she is alone again.