10-13-2021, 10:33 PM
Sometimes the way her brother speaks of their mother is puzzling to Myrna. The white mare has looked out for the palomino filly for as long as the girl can remember. But Malik references days of hunger, of uncertainty and walking on eggshells, of fears that Myrna’s young mind simply cannot fathom. She thinks of them mostly as stories (when she thinks of them at all), tales fabricated to scare a younger sibling.
But there are some times when she is not sure. Like when her mother’s face goes so terribly sad for no reason at all.
Mazikeen is crying, and Myrna blinks up at her with clouds of concern and worry in her dark eyes. She’s lost the manipulation, though she hardly notices, and her mother’s orange eyes are so very very sad. With her barely protruding horns again, she can better snuggle against her mother’s side, reassured by the warmth and the familiar feel of the feathers.
Then Myrna hears ‘We’ll look tomorrow’, and is too thrilled to notice the strange way that Mazikeen’s voice sounds as she says it.
“Tomorrow?!” She repeats, awestruck. Too young to understand misdirection, she takes her mother at her word. When Mazikeen apologizes, Myrna realizes that it had been the shape of her older self that had so upset her mother.
“Okay,” Myrna agrees. This time when she reaches for Mazikeen with her small muzzle, it is not to comfort herself. Instead, she reassures her mother, smoothing the unmarked slope of her mother’s shoulder with her small cheek: “I’m not big for real yet, Mama. I’m still me.”
Then she starts thinking about tomorrow and how that is so very soon! Her mother will surely feel the excited quiver of her muscles, and be unsurprised by the path her mind has taken. “Can grandpa shift like us too?”
@Mazikeen
But there are some times when she is not sure. Like when her mother’s face goes so terribly sad for no reason at all.
Mazikeen is crying, and Myrna blinks up at her with clouds of concern and worry in her dark eyes. She’s lost the manipulation, though she hardly notices, and her mother’s orange eyes are so very very sad. With her barely protruding horns again, she can better snuggle against her mother’s side, reassured by the warmth and the familiar feel of the feathers.
Then Myrna hears ‘We’ll look tomorrow’, and is too thrilled to notice the strange way that Mazikeen’s voice sounds as she says it.
“Tomorrow?!” She repeats, awestruck. Too young to understand misdirection, she takes her mother at her word. When Mazikeen apologizes, Myrna realizes that it had been the shape of her older self that had so upset her mother.
“Okay,” Myrna agrees. This time when she reaches for Mazikeen with her small muzzle, it is not to comfort herself. Instead, she reassures her mother, smoothing the unmarked slope of her mother’s shoulder with her small cheek: “I’m not big for real yet, Mama. I’m still me.”
Then she starts thinking about tomorrow and how that is so very soon! Her mother will surely feel the excited quiver of her muscles, and be unsurprised by the path her mind has taken. “Can grandpa shift like us too?”
@Mazikeen