.Terran.
There’d been a distance between Jinju and I since Ander’s birth. Ever since she’d sprouted her curtain of flame and brought my son into this world, it seemed to me that I was no longer necessary. In and around the blood red and pale white woods I’d wandered, aimless in my purpose but still unsettled enough to relax. I liked it here, liked the way the canopy nearly overshadowed all light, even enjoyed the solitude of this place and her secret inhabitants.
But it still made me feel so small, so alone. Even when my gilded hooves stop square in their tracks at the base of a clearing and my honey-warm eyes strain upward to see the sky I can sense nothing but the utter and complete silence around me. It’s breathtaking and heartbreaking. For a moment the wind whips through the trunks, resounding in a hollow sort of moan and I stretch my wings out to feel the breeze cascade over them. It was rare, these days, that I found a place to extend their impressiveness to the full extent and even though I’m distracted for the moment, a single sound behind me alerts me to the fact that I am not alone anymore.
How could anyone miss it, in all this dead quiet?
But I’m game, so I lower my head and angle it gently to the side, catching a wisp of something shadowy and yet shimmery slipping between the trunks some feet away. With only a single, hushed downstroke of my wings I’m airborne for a moment, neck curving so that I can peer below me where Ander, my firstborn, leaps out for a surprise attack. “LOOK OUT BELOOOOWWWW!” I trumpet, falling back to earth where my confused son waits. I won’t land on him, (what a terrible babysitter I’d be) but I do plop noisily back to the earth beside him, one great wing extended to bump the colt on his ebony hide.
“And where’s your mother, hmm, little hunter?” I question, bringing myself close enough to bump noses. She can’t be far and it stings a bit that she wouldn’t even say hello. Another time, perhaps. All women needed space. The disappointing blow to my pride won’t touch my eyes though, not while Ander is here and so very clearly desperate for my attention. Without even knowing it, I’d been desperate for him too. “I’ve missed you, look how big you’ve already gotten!”
I want to live, I want to give, I'm a miner for a heart of gold