[open] By the sun and the moon [Borderline]

[Borderline]

despite the overwhelming odds, tomorrow came

Glowing mushrooms? What glowing mushrooms? At Yanhua’s answer, I look around with a clearly confused look painted across my face. “But…there are no glowing mushrooms here,” I say. The statement coming from my lips is more confusing than the idea of glowing mushrooms. And why were we looking for glowing mushrooms? I feel like there is a reasonable explanation for all of this, and I should know what that reasonable explanation is, but for now, the concept goes over my head.

Instead, I look down at this foal, as if seeing him for the first time, and all thoughts of glowing mushrooms or where we are suddenly fade away. “Wit?” I say, though the question makes it sound as if I had known him my whole life. The foal looks over at me, genuine concern coating the air between us. He moves to my side before looking to his father for reassurance. I smile down at him and lip at the soft whiskers that grow from his chin, whiskers that are thicker than a normal foal’s whiskers, an indication that he will also share the goat features that his father and sister have as well. He also has two stripes running down his face, something I imagine is a goat feature, since I have never seen a horse with such markings.

My brain seems incapable of holding its attention anywhere for longer than a moment, though, and as my thoughts drift, so too does my attention. Though this time, I’m not sure exactly where they are headed, or where I am headed, for that matter.

Wit watches as I once again fold my legs beneath me and lay back down. I am no longer even aware of what I am doing. In fact, as soon as I hit the ground, I close my eyes and allow the shadows that surround us to sink in through my thoughts, and I pass peacefully into a slumber. Luckily for @[Yanhua], my barrel rises and falls with the ragged breaths that I take, so he will know I am alive. Nonetheless, it does nothing to satiate the worry that the two boys must feel over these sudden turn of events.

Wit bleats softly down at me, hunger in his voice, but when he noses around my hind legs, he finds himself incapable of accessing my teat to eat. Uncomfortably, he looks up at his father, as if Yanhua might have some sort of solution for his hunger. He seems resigned to sit in his worry, however, as long as his mother is still suffering (which, I am). He moves very unsteadily around me, nearly tripping over my legs once or twice on the way, so that he is next to the stallion, and he carefully presses his tiny figure into his side, seeking some sort of comfort that I am currently unable to provide.

Borderline

Image by Calcifer