[private] its harder than you think, mazikeen

[bolder]

Despite the somewhat awkward topic they find themselves in, Bolder grins.

The moment of whatever embarrassment passes easily enough. There is very little that actually bothers the young pegasus, and for the few things that actually do (like his father and his family’s aversion to shapeshifting), his Aunt Mazikeen is not one of them. The flush of heat that had crept up his copper neck and into the proud curve of his jaw vanishes, replaced with the eager enthusiasm that his exploring might prove useful to his home, to his family.

"Perhaps Malik might like to come,” Bolder wonders out loud, turning his moon-marked face back to Mazikeen. It was becoming harder to find his cousin these days, but as impatient as the winged horse was to accomplish what he and Maze were discussing, the desire to have the blue-and-black shifter accompany him was stronger. He could wait a few days, and Bolder had a few spots already in mind to look for him.

But if he had known that Mazikeen harbored an ounce of worry, he would have attempted to ease it with a reassuring word and the same charming smile that his mother had found so endearing.

"I think I can handle it,” Bolder says instead (perhaps a touch brazenly), and his usually mischievous expression softens in the dying light of day. He had been taught by the best, after all. "And I’ll see what I can learn without causing too much of a splash,” he teases gently.

[Mazikeen]

Worry creeps into Mazikeen’s expression when Bolder mentions Malik, though she does her best to bury it. She wants both to give her son the space he needs and to have him nearby so that she knows he is okay, and those two things just will not exist at the same time. “That’s a good idea.” It was - and she hoped that Bolder would find his cousin. Maybe bring him home when they returned with what information they could find.

At least there is not much time to focus on her troubled thoughts. The laugh that comes out of Mazikeen is quiet but it is also bright and genuine, and she shakes her head with a smile. “Oh Bolder.” She never stopped being grateful for how this moon-marked boy managed to escape relatively unscathed from his beginnings in this kingdom. How is it possible that they went from kidnapping him to joking around like this?

The fact that she had purposefully tried to brainwash him against his parents is a twist in her gut, a knife that cuts frequently.

Most of what she had said about Nashua had been technically true - and she still didn’t care for him - but it had never been her place to say it. “Have I told you how glad I am that you still think of Hyaline as your home?” If Bolder ever chose to leave, she’d understand - she would just miss him terribly.

@bolder

[bolder]

Though Bolder was growing older - filling into his bulky frame and his wide auburn wings - there will never be an age that he will not want his aunt’s approval. There will always be something of that moon-marked boy within him that had needed acceptance and understanding, that had found it in Hyaline with Mazikeen and Gale. The striped pegasus thinks he has grown into a capable enough shifter (though his powers aren’t as great as his mentors nor some of his cousins), but Bolder thinks himself certainly capable.

Possibly even more than capable.

But with Mazikeen, there will always be this earnest-eyed glance. A want for her happiness and to do his part for Hyaline to repay for the education and the bonds that he has been gifted. And perhaps he hadn’t made it out of the reign when darkness had ruled both his aunt and uncle. Because much of how Bolder views the world comes from the perspective of the animals that he shifts into.

A distracted hare is easily snatched by the hawk. An injured deer is easily taken down by the pack. And for the wolf that hunts alone, nothing comes easily.

It might have been easier for Bolder to sever the ties that he had made here. His recent encounter with his brother Saffron was a reminder of how deeply family could wound. That there were still old hurts that he had tucked away, and refused to acknowledge. As he glances at Mazikeen, it makes the young stallion keenly aware of exactly how grateful he is.

There could never be any other home for him but Hyaline.

He smiles softly, lopsided and boyish. A remnant of the colt that he had once been and a visible promise that there would always be a trace of him for Mazikeen to find.

"I've always been grateful that you allowed me to stay," Bolder tells her truthfully.

@Mazikeen