The pond is his favorite part of Sylva. It is where he was born and where he spends the vast majority of his time. His coat is almost always soaking wet, but as he stands in the noon bright meadow, he is little more than slightly damp. It is an interesting sensation. Not unpleased, exactly, but certainly unfamiliar.
Of course, most things are still unfamiliar when you are only a few months old.
Ivar stretches out one back leg; it had fallen asleep as he dozed. He can tell his mother is somewhere nearby, probably wandering the woods, but he had fed shortly before sleeping. He has no need of her for the moment, and begins to wander. The dark colt is distracted fairly quickly by a gaggle of wood ducklings, recently fallen from their nest and heading toward the nearest body of water. It’s not his pond – that is to the north – and he watches them waddle away with a happy grin on his young face. He is too young to have learned to hide his feelings, and he turns as they disappear in search of something else exciting.
Much like the colt that Eiria didn't yet know was at the pond inside Sylva's territory, she quite enjoyed visiting it herself. On the occasions where she asked her dam to go off alone, have some time to herself to think about things she kept inside, Eiria would usually go to the pond. There was something about staring at her reflection that eased the mare, helped her come to terms with any problems she was having or coming to a decision for a growing problem.
Like one she felt right now. She was happy with her life here, but at the same time, she felt empty. She desired to have the companionship her dam once had with Archam before he disappeared. Raxa seemed fine on her own, and Zhenga might be experiencing crushes with any stallions she saw, but Eiria was a full-grown mare. She at least desired the friendship of a stallion, the desire to make a new friend, since most of the horses she knew, she'd known since coming her to Sylva in the first place after the Reckoning.
She wasn't desperate for a friendship or a stallion's company, it just would've been nice. Eiria was independent enough that she could care for herself, but she was nowhere near the level of Raxa, who pretty much defined such emotions. Eiria suspected it did have something to do with the secret Jedi had been keeping from both the brindled mare and Sunfall, who had recently returned to the ranks of Sylva as a warrior. Now that really had to be awkward.
Come to think of it, Eiria did wonder what happened to Jedi. She didn't see him much anymore, and Zhenga never really had anything to say about him. Probably because she was still so young when Beqanna went crazy. She was born within the first few days of the Reckoning, and shortly after, the secret got out between the mares, their foals, and the paint stallion. She hoped he was doing all right; he was a good friend.
Eiria thought that, sometimes, Raxa's pain came out, but the brindle was always careful about hiding it. Maybe one day she'd ask her dam to ask Raxa if she truly was okay. She had loved Jedi after all, if the brindle dared to use that word. It had to be hard, knowing a stallion you cared for either disappeared, like Archam, or kept a life partner a secret, like Jedi. Sure, Archam had other mares in his herd, and foals with them, but at least Anahi knew about it.
Once Eiria got to the pond, she decided to stop self-absorbing in her thoughts. She lowered her head and took a drink, the fresh water soothing to her throat. Without warning, Eiria spotted something from the corner of her eye, heading in the direction of her front legs. She turned to look, seeing it was a gaggle of ducks, a dam and her young ones. Lifting a hoof so they wouldn't run into it by accident, watching as they ran around the other, Eiria wondered what could've startled them. They hadn't seemed scared, but sure in a hurry.
The golden mare turned her head in the direction they'd come from, her curiosity slowly beginning to rise. She made her way in that direction, her nostrils starting to pick up on the scent of another horse nearby. No, wait, not horse... that smell, well, to put it simply, young foals simply had a different smell if they hadn't been around their dams in a while. Eiria took notice of that when Raxa left Zhenga in Anahi's care for a few days while she went to the sparring grounds.
Eiria examined the woods, wanting to see if she could spot what she figured was a foal. Sure enough, after a while of searching, her brown eyes picked out the foal's form. It was paint in color, a dark shade that Eiria figured was black or brown; the light shadows from the nearby trees stretched out enough that she couldn't pinpoint it exactly.
She called out to the foal, "Young one, what are you doing out here by yourself? Are you lost? Where is your mother?"
Ivar’s downy foal colt is not yet dry, and his belly is still full from his pre-nap meal; he’s been alone for no more than an hour. It hasn’t occurred to him that he should have sought out his mother, but the worry in this stranger’s voice makes him uncertain. Does he need her? Well, he does, of course, but does he really need her now? Djinni has let him wander before, and while she usually keeps a close eye on him, she has also let him swim out to sea and visit the playground.
The pied colt decides that the golden stranger is just being protective, which immediately makes her trustworthy. He comes closer, leaving the bright sunlit meadow behind to cross into the shadows of the trees. Clsoer, he can see that the roan mare is younger than his own dam, but a quick glance around them reveals no child of her own for him to play with. He is not especially disappointed – he spends most of his time in the company of adults or himself – and he looks up at the older female with a carefree child’s smile.
“My mom’s over there,” he tells her, gesturing toward the opposite side of the Meadow, where Djinni is doing…whatever it is that Djinni does when she is alone.
“My name’s Ivar,” he tells her, adding that: “My mom is Djinni and my dad is Stillwater” because it seems like that information might be important. Neither seem the type to leave their progeny unprotected, and he hopes that this will reassure her of that. “What’s your name?”
At least the young one's dam was still around here. Eiria wasn't asking for her location to try and send the colt back to her because he had wandered too far; she simply wanted reassurance, knowing that she was nearby at least so he could return safely to her side if he needed her.
But she hadn't expected this. The young colt was Djinni's? Then again, a closer look made Eiria notice the resemblance between the two of them. She could definitely see a bit of Stillwater in the colt too, even though she didn't know the stallion that well.
"Well, it's nice to meet you Ivar. My name's Eiria; my mother is Anahi, one of the diplomats serving under your mother." Since Ivar felt he should share who his parents were, Eiria decided to share her dam's name as well. It wasn't going to cause any bad repercussions; Anahi lived here and was a loyal member of the kingdom.
"A diplomat." he repeats the unfamiliar word. She says it like he should know what it means, and it makes him curious. Djinni clearly has not yet begun the structured lessons received by most kingdom-born foals (and especially those that are the offspring of monarchs). She's of the mind that children need time to be children, but Ivar is obviously curious about this unknown word.
"What's a diplomat?" He asks, looking up at the older mare with bright eyes. "Are you a diplomat too?"
He does want to know, but he is also young. So when a brightly colored bluebird flits through the woods behind Eiria, his gaze follows it to where it perches on a tall stone outcropping. He doesn't mean to be rude when he moves toward it; he even calls back over his shoulder to the amber champagne roan: "Hey come help me catch this bird!"
The colt is clearly attempting to be stealthy - he moves slowly and deliberately - but the way the leaves crackle beneath his hooves and how he steps on what seems like every twig on the forest floor alert the bird to his arrival long before he can pounce. It is soaring away and he watches it with a disappointed expression before he gets over it with childlike ease.
"Have you ever caught a bird before? I haven't".
"Correct young one," Eiria replied, smiling at the colt. She thought of how to answer his question, "Well, a diplomat is a horse, like myself, as I am one, who works to help maintain peace in the kingdom where they live. They help settle disputes among the horses they live with, they go out to the Field to find horses who need homes, and they go on trips to other kingdoms to try and help establish alliances so the kingdoms get along. It is quite a task, but my mother has taught me well. If you do want to learn about that when you are older, I am sure that she, and your mother too, would teach you."
Ivar seemed to lose interest when a blue bird caught his attention, landing on a small cropping of rocks. He raced toward it while calling to Eiria to help him catch it, a thought that had the champagne mare chuckling before she decided to go after him. Setting off at a light canter, Eiria followed after the colt, slowing to a walking pace once she reached Ivar.
She stayed behind him a stride or two, watching him with a smile on her face as he attempted to sneak toward the bird. Ivar's attempt unfortunately failed when the bird heard his approach and flew off, the colt not really seeming bothered. He asked Eiria if she'd ever caught one, to which she replied,
"Sadly, no. Though, I remember when I was young, my older sister and I, we would often chase after the birds flying above the Falls meadows, the place where we used to live. She'd always dream of outrunning the birds, something she managed before she had to leave. I remember how proud she was of that day, and our mother, too. I've never outrun a bird but I do enjoy chasing them to see how fast I can run. Zhenga enjoys it too; she's not that much older than you, by a few years but still young. I think you'll like her; she's young and spirited, quite like you."
Ivar listens, impressively still for a young child. Eiria gives the young foal an impressive wealth of information. It's unlikely that he'll remember all of it, but the major details stick - the purpose of diplomacy, a few of the tasks, and the importance of it. His brown eyes are wide, and he soaks up the knowledge as well as he can before he is setting out after the bird.
The colt can hear her behind him, but the bird eludes them both easily. They always do, of course, but it doesn't occur to him that the hunt is futile. There is something in him that drives him to chase and follow, something that urges him to capture. He's never succeeded, but he is young enough that ultimate frustration is little more than few sighs.
"I'd like to meet Zhenga," he tells her at the end of her story. Ivar rather likes being referred to as spirited (it sounds like a nicer way to phrase the term exhausting that his mother most often uses. And he would like to meet more horses closer to his own age. Something else she'd mentioned had caught his attention, and his unquenchable curiosity makes him ask: "Where are the Falls?" He's heard mother refer to it a few times, mostly in stories of the past, but she hadn't ever mentioned how to get there, and he's always wanted to see waterfalls.
Eiria laughs when Ivar says he'd like to meet Zhenga. "Well, if you wish, I know where she likes to spend most of her days. I can lead you there, if you'd like, so you could meet her."
The colt suddenly seemed interested in the bird again, leaving Eiria for a moment. The mare walked after him, keeping quiet and watching him curiously. How could he find a bird so interesting? True, creatures capable of flight had a way to see the world that Eiria could not even begin to imagine. Still, it was a small bird, but enough to keep Ivar busy. It was quite adorable, watching the colt follow after the bird.
The duo remained wordless for some time before Ivar asked Eiria about the Falls. She was taken aback a moment, wondering what to say. She had not talked of her old home in so long. Especially not around her dam, whose memories got dragged up every time it was mentioned. She knew Anahi didn't like up dragging memories of the past, especially because she remembered Archam every time that happened. So, to spare her the pain, Eiria always tried to make sure nobody spoke of the Falls when her dam was around.
But, now, they were in the clear, so it was safe. She would make sure to leave out what exactly caused the disappearance of the Falls, since Ivar's young age might not make it easy for him to understand.
"Well, this Beqanna, right now, was not always this way. Many moons ago, the land was totally different, full of other wonderful kingdoms, like the Falls, where I used to live. All I know for certain was that there was a... misunderstanding, to put it lightly. Beqanna got angry with what happened, and suddenly changed, so quickly that may family members were separated from each other. That is why, to this day, I do not think either of my brothers or sister have shown up.
"But the Falls was a beautiful land. It had wide open grazing meadows, a forest to provide cover for the entire kingdom, and a wonderful waterfall sitting right in the middle, leading into a big lake. My dam's territory that she shared with her lead stallion and his herd was above the waterfall, along some ridges and meadows. It was a wonderful place to live in, and while I am sad it is now gone, Sylva is a great place as well. I think you will continue to enjoy it for a long time."
She looked at the colt, "I know I already offered, but would you like to go meet Zhenga? I do not think she is busy at this time of day."
To a child, the idea that his world has not always been the same is a rather enormous one. He's quiet for a while as he ponders it. He cannot quite grasp the idea of familial seperation, since his mother is his family and his father is always by the water. How could they ever be something different, be somewhere else? It's unfathomable.
The land she describes is a distraction from such thoughts, and he tries to imagine such a land. There are forests and meadows in Sylva, but their only waterfalls are a handful of rapids and whitewater. It would be wonderful to see an actual waterfall.
She offers to lead him to Zhenga, and Ivar nods enthusiastically. "Yes1 I want to meet her! Is she like you? What does she look like? Do you think she'll help me catch a bird?"
04-09-2017, 09:00 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-09-2017, 09:00 PM by Eiria.)
The colt showed much enthusiasm to the idea, reminding Eiria of her younger brothers and Zhenga when they were young foals. She hid a laugh as she patiently answered Ivar's questions as they began walking in the direction where the roan was.
"Well, she is in some ways. Zhenga is definitely more loud, independent, she loves showing off her speed, just like her dam. She's in training to become a warrior, but is also learning stuff from my dam. However, I think that she's definitely more suited to the path of a warrior; her mouth gets her in more trouble than she likes to admit. She's free-spirited, loves to explore, and wants to one day help lead a kingdom, or have one to herself if I know her.
She's a roan color, like her dam, somewhat, and my sire, Archam. She's got light red coloring that's dusted with brown, and a black mane and tail. She's got a couple dark points, and really pretty, expressive eyes. Kind of lanky for her age, but then again, so was I, and if she's anything like Raxa, she'll fit out as she gets older. As for the bird, well, that'll be a question you should ask her," Eiria finished, laughing a little.
They continued the trip in good spirits, within an hour reaching the portion of the kingdom's meadow where the roan liked to graze when it was hot out. Eiria didn't know what about this meadow made it more special than others, especially when hot out, but Zhenga was an unusual filly, so she couldn't complain or anything.
Spotting her younger friend in the distance, Eiria let out a call, "Hey, Zhenga! You've got a youngster over here that wants to meet you!"
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