09-24-2020, 06:29 PM
despite the overwhelming odds, tomorrow came
“Giants…” I echo the sentiment. My eyes trail the small meadow, looking up at these giants. There is one tree behind me that is at least twice my width around, and another to the left that is a long dead and gone tree stump that has rotted out in the middle that I could probably squeeze myself into. I have already come to appreciate–and even enjoy–these giants. They feel like home. Yanhua makes them feel like home.
He invites me to walk with him, and the offer sounds like a dream, if only it wasn’t attached to an air of misery. Something tells me that he is about to answer my question about the fire, and I may not like the answer to it all that much. But I nod, a soft movement that causes a lock of blue mane to fall forward on my face, tickling the bridge of my nose. I shake my head so that the tendrils fall back to their usual spot around my ears.
Yanhua may have requested that I follow him, but he didn’t need to. I would follow him just about anywhere at this point. He could demand that I follow, and I would happily oblige. His smile enchants me, his voice enthralls me, and I feel intrigue for whatever he might want to show me. So before he could even move, I step in the direction of the little deer path on the other side of the meadow that he had motioned toward. I throw my head back over my shoulder to look at him, as if silently asking if he’s coming, a light and cheery smile plastered across my face.
I stop and wait for him to show the way, eager to have a tour of the forest, while also slightly apprehensive about what I might see. It’s not that it would scare me away. On the contrary, my heart breaks to know that my new homeland had just gone through something so…tragic. My homeland…the words echo in my mind for a moment, and the smile that paints my lips in that moment is my own, though I hoped he would notice and ask, because I want him to know that this is where I believe I belong. I finally think I’ve found a place where I could belong. The thought sends thrills of excitement through me.
“So, Yanhua, I say softly, almost shyly, “Tell me about yourself. Were you born in these lands? How old are you, anyway? What do you like? That’s a lot of questions, I tell myself, but then again, I was starting to feel like I could be myself with this stallion. He’s such a nice soul, and it made me feel at ease. Still...that worry haunts me like the whisper of wind that always sweeps through the trees.
borderline
@[Yanhua]