04-30-2021, 05:44 PM
The light that meets the dark
After the feeling of midsummer festivities had worn off and before old man winter could blow his icy breath across the northern territories, Cheri found herself accompanied by her sire, Yanhua, and on her way south to the borders of Loess. This plan of hers: to relocate from the redwoods and make a new home in the larger southern Kingdom, had been a decision weeks in the making. Cheri had known from a young age that she would leave Taiga someday, not permanently but certainly someday, and after the Eclipse had ended it felt like there wasn’t a better time. Amarine was home now. Her siblings were too old for games, her cousins and aunts and uncles branching out themselves now that the world was bright again. Even her father was busier than ever, helping to raise Cheri’s youngest new siblings from the previous season while adjusting to his role as Guardian. She knew she could’ve stayed in the redwoods forever if she wanted to, but somehow Cheri knew that if she didn’t take that first step toward a new future, it certainly wouldn’t come to her.
She looked back over her shoulder as her father led her past a bend in the main roadway, watching the towering evergreen crowns disappear for good, and her heart clenched with a moment’s worth of anxiety. “This is it.” She thought to herself, turning back to catch up with her sire’s lengthy walk. “I only wish Targaryen was coming too…”
But her childhood friend had gone away after the festival, and Cheri knew she couldn’t wait on him either. Not when the words of another, much darker stallion resonated inside of her.
“Are you even worthy?” He’d asked her that stormy evening in the meadow, when Cheri had been at her lowest and him at his worst. She knew better than to let the casual accusations of a nitwit rile her up, and yet they did. That phrase nettled her so deep that Cheri had taken to remembering it more often than she’d like to admit, making her question everything about herself when she did. Was she worthy? Did she really think herself so special? She hadn’t… until she discovered that she could heal the ill and mend the broken. Then Cheri had felt as tall as a king redwood in the heart of Taiga.
Maybe though, maybe he was right.
Maybe she wasn’t.
“We’re nearly there.” Yanhua spoke up, drawing her out from deep contemplation. Cheri blinked and looked up past him where the landscape was becoming more barren and diverse, noticing how the soil was changing from dirt to clay and how the jagged peaks of red rock spires loomed in the distance. It was still mid-morning, and a soupy fog clung to the air and also to Cheri’s skin. She pulled her wings close to her sides, grateful for the halo of light created by herself and her father’s aesthetic traits, but the two paused when the sound of clashing bones broke up the silence.
A pair of rutting bucks swung their sharp horns at one another and then stopped, interrupted by the traveling pair of horses. With shivering tails they waited, hesitant to start again, but her father blew a heavy snort and sent them bounding off into wilderness where they could finish their quarrel elsewhere. “Healthy boys, the both of them. That’s a good sign.” Her father commented, and Cheri rolled her eyes. Sure, sure. She was much more interested in the location they stopped at, lifting her eyes to peer as high as she could. Cheri took in her first sights with an impish grin. “What now?” She asked Yanhua, who looked at his daughter with a slow smile. Cheri readjusted and watched her father clear his throat before he whickered a casual greeting. Then Cheri joined in, her pitch a much higher tone than that of her rumbling dad, laughing afterwards while the two waited for an answer.
She looked back over her shoulder as her father led her past a bend in the main roadway, watching the towering evergreen crowns disappear for good, and her heart clenched with a moment’s worth of anxiety. “This is it.” She thought to herself, turning back to catch up with her sire’s lengthy walk. “I only wish Targaryen was coming too…”
But her childhood friend had gone away after the festival, and Cheri knew she couldn’t wait on him either. Not when the words of another, much darker stallion resonated inside of her.
“Are you even worthy?” He’d asked her that stormy evening in the meadow, when Cheri had been at her lowest and him at his worst. She knew better than to let the casual accusations of a nitwit rile her up, and yet they did. That phrase nettled her so deep that Cheri had taken to remembering it more often than she’d like to admit, making her question everything about herself when she did. Was she worthy? Did she really think herself so special? She hadn’t… until she discovered that she could heal the ill and mend the broken. Then Cheri had felt as tall as a king redwood in the heart of Taiga.
Maybe though, maybe he was right.
Maybe she wasn’t.
“We’re nearly there.” Yanhua spoke up, drawing her out from deep contemplation. Cheri blinked and looked up past him where the landscape was becoming more barren and diverse, noticing how the soil was changing from dirt to clay and how the jagged peaks of red rock spires loomed in the distance. It was still mid-morning, and a soupy fog clung to the air and also to Cheri’s skin. She pulled her wings close to her sides, grateful for the halo of light created by herself and her father’s aesthetic traits, but the two paused when the sound of clashing bones broke up the silence.
A pair of rutting bucks swung their sharp horns at one another and then stopped, interrupted by the traveling pair of horses. With shivering tails they waited, hesitant to start again, but her father blew a heavy snort and sent them bounding off into wilderness where they could finish their quarrel elsewhere. “Healthy boys, the both of them. That’s a good sign.” Her father commented, and Cheri rolled her eyes. Sure, sure. She was much more interested in the location they stopped at, lifting her eyes to peer as high as she could. Cheri took in her first sights with an impish grin. “What now?” She asked Yanhua, who looked at his daughter with a slow smile. Cheri readjusted and watched her father clear his throat before he whickered a casual greeting. Then Cheri joined in, her pitch a much higher tone than that of her rumbling dad, laughing afterwards while the two waited for an answer.
@[Oceane]