09-06-2015, 11:46 PM
love is a temporary madness...
She does not know why she has come here. Her body aches fiercely, her soul pained. She walks with a limp, new scars marking her once perfectly sleek red coat. But she is not dying. This she knows with a certainty. So why has she come here?
Her dark hooves dig into the soft sand of the beach, leaving ephemeral indentations in the earth behind her as she walks. The night sky overhead is strewn with stars as the midnight hue of the heavens fades slowly into the muted navy of predawn. She had been unable to sleep tonight, ancient memories tangling thickly in her mind. She did not fly here, but rather had walked. She has not flown since the incident, fear and something else she is too afraid to name holding her back.
It is not until she is quite close that she sees the body. She pauses, the sight of another unexpected. Though many had died here, the sand is surprisingly free of bones. A slight movement from the horse startles her, for she had not expected her to be living. As she steps nearer, the scent of birth hits her nostrils. Worry creases her brow as she takes the remaining steps swiftly to the mare’s side.
As she gazes down upon the dull red form, the shock of recognition hits her. She is rendered speechless as she stares at that familiar face. A face she had not seen in many, many years. The face of one she had thought long since dead. Her mother’s face.
As she stares at her, a small smile faintly stretches her mother’s lips. A single word slips from her mouth as she exhales her final breath, lids closing over dim amber eyes. Her name. Ely. The nickname she had used for her nearly since the moment of her birth, decades ago. Her mother had been so young then, so alive. So very different from the emaciated mare that lay before her now.
“Momma?”
The word escapes her before she can stop it. But it is too late. Her mother is already gone. She can sense it as her life slips away. The fear had given way to joy, a joy so heartrendingly beautiful and pure that it had shaken her senses for a moment. And then the joy had faded, leaving nothing behind. The tears fall from her russet eyes unbidden, echoing the unbearable sadness stirring within her. To have finally found her mother after all these years, only to watch her slip away into death, is a blow more heavy than the one she had experienced such a short time ago as she had hit the unforgiving earth.
A sound startles her, drawing her attention, halting the flow of tears. She suddenly recalls the odor of birth hanging heavily in the air. She steps forward, nose dropping as she approaches the newly born foal. A filly with a coat the same red hue as her own, but with startling teal markings and a bold white star upon her forehead. A tremulous smile touches her lips, a tentative flicker of optimism blossoming in her chest. The filly is perfectly beautiful, a bright ray burning strongly in a time of such despair. She nuzzles the girl gently as she inspects her closely. As she does so, a glimmer passes over the filly’s small body, hundreds of sparks twinkling in her vision like the stars overhead. She stills for a moment, suddenly knowing there is far more to this unique child than meets the eye.
“Come, sweetheart. I will bring you home with me.”
She pauses, realizing that the filly does not have a name. Their mother had died before giving her one. After several long moments of thought, she softly whispers a word, her name.
“Lirren.”
Her dark hooves dig into the soft sand of the beach, leaving ephemeral indentations in the earth behind her as she walks. The night sky overhead is strewn with stars as the midnight hue of the heavens fades slowly into the muted navy of predawn. She had been unable to sleep tonight, ancient memories tangling thickly in her mind. She did not fly here, but rather had walked. She has not flown since the incident, fear and something else she is too afraid to name holding her back.
It is not until she is quite close that she sees the body. She pauses, the sight of another unexpected. Though many had died here, the sand is surprisingly free of bones. A slight movement from the horse startles her, for she had not expected her to be living. As she steps nearer, the scent of birth hits her nostrils. Worry creases her brow as she takes the remaining steps swiftly to the mare’s side.
As she gazes down upon the dull red form, the shock of recognition hits her. She is rendered speechless as she stares at that familiar face. A face she had not seen in many, many years. The face of one she had thought long since dead. Her mother’s face.
As she stares at her, a small smile faintly stretches her mother’s lips. A single word slips from her mouth as she exhales her final breath, lids closing over dim amber eyes. Her name. Ely. The nickname she had used for her nearly since the moment of her birth, decades ago. Her mother had been so young then, so alive. So very different from the emaciated mare that lay before her now.
“Momma?”
The word escapes her before she can stop it. But it is too late. Her mother is already gone. She can sense it as her life slips away. The fear had given way to joy, a joy so heartrendingly beautiful and pure that it had shaken her senses for a moment. And then the joy had faded, leaving nothing behind. The tears fall from her russet eyes unbidden, echoing the unbearable sadness stirring within her. To have finally found her mother after all these years, only to watch her slip away into death, is a blow more heavy than the one she had experienced such a short time ago as she had hit the unforgiving earth.
A sound startles her, drawing her attention, halting the flow of tears. She suddenly recalls the odor of birth hanging heavily in the air. She steps forward, nose dropping as she approaches the newly born foal. A filly with a coat the same red hue as her own, but with startling teal markings and a bold white star upon her forehead. A tremulous smile touches her lips, a tentative flicker of optimism blossoming in her chest. The filly is perfectly beautiful, a bright ray burning strongly in a time of such despair. She nuzzles the girl gently as she inspects her closely. As she does so, a glimmer passes over the filly’s small body, hundreds of sparks twinkling in her vision like the stars overhead. She stills for a moment, suddenly knowing there is far more to this unique child than meets the eye.
“Come, sweetheart. I will bring you home with me.”
She pauses, realizing that the filly does not have a name. Their mother had died before giving her one. After several long moments of thought, she softly whispers a word, her name.
“Lirren.”
elysteria