04-08-2021, 10:27 PM
In the quiet moments somewhere in between monitoring Borderline’s good health and waiting for the rest of his family to return, Yanhua found time to inspect the redwoods. His simple herdland full of ancient trees and their quiet secrets had changed in the dark year, and not at all for the worst. True; the forest had shriveled from a year without sunlight and the work necessary to revive it properly would be a large goal for the future, perhaps months or even years of work depending on the depth of damage to the root system, but in the absence of the light something wondrous and surprising had taken place.
Something unexpected and revealed by the dark, which Yanhua thought ironic given the circumstances. That evening, the faun-stallion of Taiga made his way deeper into the heartwood of the territory he called home in search of it, and (as he went) the dying rays of daylight illuminated some of the changes he’d discovered since coming home. The trees in this section of the wood were once uniform and naturally colored, a mix of cedar and pine that smelled as pungent as they were beautiful. Now, Yanhua could see that their bark was silver and their needles were an array of brilliant colors: purple, blue, and orange. As he passed, the winged stallion ducked beneath the low-hanging boughs of one particular Silvergreen to touch his lips against the bark and taste what looked metallic.
“Hmm.” He chuckled lightly, betraying his position in the woods to any nearby listeners or horses passing through. So far he’d not seen anyone out. Cheri, his daughter, was probably out flapping around with Targaryen. His celestial son Reynard checked in often, but Yan had already seen him that morning. He assumed he was alone out here, and so his inhibitions fell away. The Yanhua most would see — serious, searching blue eyes and a firm but kind expression — had been replaced. In his hooves was a curious stallion, licking the bark off trees. “Interesting.” He concluded as night fell.
When the last vestiges of the setting sun had gone away and Yanhua moved out from underneath the twisted rainbow of needles, a cacophony of interesting noises crept up from the navy shadows. “I’ll never look at the color black the same way again.” The stallion thought as his deft hooves picked their way through the litter of the forest. The first night after the Eclipse had passed was a rough one; Yan remembered it clearly as he paced along, but it hadn’t terrified him like the dark had before. This dark was as different to him as anything could be. These shadows, the kind that didn’t form shapes and leap out to tear apart unsuspecting horses, were nothing like their predecessors. They stayed put, save the ones that danced along beside him in the overcast glow of his self-made light.
These shadows he could stride confidently through, and Yanhua did — becoming a lantern-bearer in the warm summer night. Crickets chirruped pleasantly in time with the little croaks and bellows of frogs that’d come along, and soon enough Yan found himself humming gently as well, his mane and tail and golden wings all beaming with the pleasant energy he exuded. He thought of Lilli and how much she would’ve marveled at this all, especially the particular thing he was hunting for tonight, and from the core of his soul a pleasant noise drifted through his mind. It was like… a tune. Yan really had no words for the feeling, but he felt it all the same and with such an intensity that it permeated his skin and hovered around him like an invisible aura, adding melody and harmony to the natural sounds around him. He was producing music for the first time since the Eclipse, and instead of being surprised Yanhua let his emotions flow into song.
This one he would dedicate to her: to Lilliana. His dam and the guardian light of Taiga, and he named the noise in honor of her until she came back to hear it herself. She might be missing, but Yanhua had hope beyond measure now. He knew nothing was impossible, and so he believed that some day, somehow, he and his mother would be reunited again. The music drifted and curled with a sad, simple gentleness and Yanhua walked on, into the heartwood in search of a mystery worth solving.
YANHUA
@[Ori]
