Insignificance.

[Insignificance]

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I have followed in her footsteps, just as I am meant to do. Just as she, even though she doesn´t know it yet, should have followed in mine all those years ago. I can feel the quiet tremble in her core the purpose in her tense muscles, as my greying muzzle is planted firmly on her back as we walk. But where it before was a sign of uncertainty, it is now an act of reassurance. I am here, and I won´t leave her until the day I stop breathing. I am not worried about leaving Kavi behind – his nostrils will surely pick up our scent, and with it – he will come to claim his place in our motley little family. My steps are light – and there is the hint of an infatuated smile on my lips. Frivolous old thing, I have become. I know she has questions, and an almost smug smile winds its way to my lips at the thought of the surprise I have for her. Of course – she has noted the change in my demeanor. The absence of diffidence in my eye, the bubble of laughter just below the surface of my words.  I have not yet had the time to explain; perhaps part of me fears her reaction. Fear that I have taken what is not mine to take. I look around as she stops; much as any other creature does. The eyes cannot help themselves, though not seeking out any particular object that is of high interest but more as the action of glancing to both sides of a road before crossing. My head is too full of things; questions and answers and a thousand other things I wish to share with her. Thoughts of him. The place is beautiful, undeniably so, and I am sure it will be the perfect spot for us to settle down in. I playfully nudge her withers as she smiles shyly, an act so uncharacteristic for the Insignificance she has come to know. I have noticed the glances she casts at my swelling barrel and the one result of my nights with Kavi that truly terrifies me. I shift on feeling the shy breeze of Hyaline, an attempt to shake my focus off the nausea that threatens to overcome me. ”It is beautiful Kagerus” I breathe, and every word is true. ”But you know I would be happy to live anywhere, as long as we are together” Time has always had a way of getting away from me, as if written by a steady hand that knew the ending and was not quite yet ready to reveal it. Time passes, and I grow more comfortable in this place – time passes, much like the flow of clouds in the sky, and I stare into the whorls of white and blue and passing birds as if I could delve answers from above the stratosphere. I have never really known peace, in the sense of the word that implies some kind of partisanship and allegiance against other partisanships and other allegiances, and that concept is still alien to me. I have only known my family, and the untold paths I wandered in solitude, and not much further than here, and this newness of loyalties to those outside a family in the strictest sense is one I am not quite used to. And even counting family, my loyalties never really laid with them either - I guess just being here proves that. It is a strange sensation – that I only now in my old age has found the family I always sought. Something worth fighting for. I look at her, then, and know it as truth as surely as the world keeps turning. And when Kagerus’ words of secret lovers reach my ears I cannot help but laugh - and it is liberating, a wild thing that starts at the pit of my stomach and works its way up to pour from my lips like an overflowing river at spring. And something changes, I can feel my muscles ease, my tongue let loose. ”Oh, him” I laugh innocently - hushed, my voice a breathy composition of affection, mirth and a touch of reverence; ”He most certainly will love it here. As long as we are here together with him”  I continue teasingly - still trying to compose myself from the sudden outburst of laughter.  ”Would you like to meet him? I am quite certain you will love each other” insignificance