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 Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:58 pm
 Well, this had to be one for the record books. The day had started off well enough. Crousader and Blais were drilling.. as was the usual... and they had in turn woken most of the camp when Blais landed a very solid kick against his former master... which in turn started a long stream of curses and oaths. Not all that odd, considering the source. Killian had long ago decided that his 'Uncle" Crous was not as cool and collected as he wanted everyone to think. But then things got odd when the young mare Seresai got involved, and a flurry of wings, hooves, and one overly large painted body whirled around the main encampment. At that point, the usually vibrant young stallion decided this day was going down the tubes rather quickly... and if he were any judge of expression, his other Uncles thought the same... since Flame had stalked off with Toujours to their normal resting spot, and Tai was being readied by the human two-legger Celei for a day at the Kawani village. Amarinne was also waiting with Tai, but unlike the easy-going brown and gold stallion, she would make the trip unburdened by anything except her rider, the lithe young kawani girl Riverfire. Which meant he was about to be left here with three combatants (who would only get rowdier once everyone else was gone) and the usdia mare Dream. Sparing a glance towards the dozing figure of the tiny grullo mare, bundled up with Tai's mountain lion familiar Edelsteine, he decided that sleeping was the best way to say goodbye to her, and got to his feet. There was nothing to keep him here for the day, and as had become habit in the recent weeks, Killian decided that a journey was in order. It had been ages since he had traveled up the slopes to his parent's abode, and truth be told, he had been putting off the climb. His mother would certainly have good advice for him, but in his heart he felt that if he actually told her about the difficulty he was having with Bonfire.. well... it would cement the whole thing in inescapable facts... And he had grown rather fond of running.
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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:24 pm
Three of her children had flown the nest prematurely and one had remained behind. He was chosen by Farseer Generis from birth but it hadn't made anything easier on the mother. It had broken her heart to watch her 'babies' leave so early, but with the support of her mate she had come to realise that it had been their time. It was Ambroise's responsibility to take the mantle of his family, his siblings would be permitted to enjoy life and to experience it to the fullest.
Still, she had always longed for the day when they would come home to see her. She had been without their company for years and often wandered at how they were enjoying life. Recently Althalus had returned home with the news of his life mating to a very pretty mare, but as of yet Killian remained elusive and Adarna appeared to have taken to the skies. It was most likely that her own daughter had gone to explore further regions.
Ah but she missed them.
Nevertheless it appeared that the spirits were favouring her this month as they had brought one of her sons home. She could only hope that Killian would follow suit at one point. Truth be told she sincerely hoped that he was faring just as well as his brother and that he had seen the world too. Lord knew she needed to live through her children as of late given the heavy weight that pressed down on the shoulders of the family as a whole.
For the most part the eldest had taken that burden but Yei was growing fearful that she would turn into a worrywart for the entire family! That in itself couldn't be permitted or she would begin to look ghastly. Alas, with a flick of her tail she nestled comfortably against the outcropping of rock and admired the clouds as they drifted across the horizon. They appeared to be as idle as she was as of late.
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 1:50 pm
Picking up his pace, Killian trotted with renewed purpose up the slopes towards his ancestral home. He was close now, and he nickered a long greeting to any who might be near.
During the beginning stages of this journey, he had done quite enough soul searching and pity gathering... now.. well he had finally reached the conclusion that he really just needed to see his mommy.
Life in the lowlands had been fabulous, and he adored his multitude of aunts and uncles... cousins and adoptive siblings. Amarinne had been a particularly constant presence in the recent months, but even her gentle words couldn't fill the void Bonfire had left... in fact, they couldn't even begin to heal the rough edges of pain. Those raw emotional burns were of the type only a mother's love could ease, and he regretted the fact that it had taken him this long to realize what his heart had been trying to tell him.
In all likelihood, he should have trekked up here immediately after the .. incident.
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Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:02 am
Everyone needed their parents, a Soquili would be lying if they said they didn't. In some form or another every soquili sought that sense of belonging, recognition and home. They could travel the entire world and still return to the same place, welcomed with open arms and the warmest of embraces. That love would never fade or be forgotten regardless of how far they travelled or the disputes they got into. It was complex, a difficult bond to fathom for those that lack it...but it was there. Any soquili who didn't have that opportunity or support network often struggled to survive against the toughtest odds.
...Perhaps that was why so many had fallen to 'darker' desires.
Such things simply made the Islagiatt herd even more powerful and special. Against all odds and despite the distance the members had maintained a tight support network. Not one of their members, even those of more questionable natures, had fallen to dark desires. Even the most unlikely had come forth during darker times - unlikely heroes. It made an Alpha proud to represent such a herd...especially given some of the foes they had encountered.
Nevertheless there was another thing that would never change, while a mother's love was irreplacable - her instincts were never wrong either. It might have been years and his voice might have broken but she knew exactly who it was. As his nicker caught her ears, the mare turned her head in its direction and smiled. Apparently this year would be filled with visits and reunions - just as Cyn had said...there would be a time of peace and a time for family.
"Killian," she murmured gently as she moved towards the voice. Fixing her gaze on the horizon as she lengthened her stride and nickered a greeting in return. It was one of her boys, the second of the twins appeared to have come home!
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Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 12:16 pm
The responding nicker opened a veritable floodgate of emotions within the young stallion. It was his mother, the very person he sought, yet the clenching in his chest did not alleviate. Briefly, sadness at his predicament overwhelmed the joy of hearing his mother's voice again... but he squashed the selfish inner part of his heart and picked up his pace.
The time would come to talk with her of his problems, so for now... he had to at least muster a hearty greeting!
Summoning a burst of speed, he sped up the hillside, his accompanying whinny the only warning as he cleared the horizon line, nearly coming face to face with his lovely mother.
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 3:57 am
Killian always did have a way of making an entrance...all her children did. Each entrance was unique and filled with a life and spark of its own, often leaving the onlooker with a raised brow or a skinned nose at the very least. This afternoon was of no exception as the mare came to an abrupt halt mere seconds from collision from her son. Really she should have known a little better than to hurry forward and instead she should have waited patiently for Killian to come to her but generally speaking patience didn't really fall into her vocabulary when it came to greeting her children - no, she was simply to excited that they'd come home!
"Well that's one way to greet your mother," she teased gently as she backed away somewhat to give the stallion space to move. Flicking her tail against her flank, she took the opportunity to inspect her son with familiar pale eyes. Skimming over his muscled form it was clear that he'd kept busy but there was something amiss. She couldn't place it exactly, however on closer inspection she could detect the flicker of discomfort within his eyes. They said the eyes were the window to the soul and really, she believed it. While she was happy to see him she was also a little worried for what might bother him to the extent that he needed to come home.
He was certainly going to be one of those children that she rarely heard from when things were good, and stepped forward for when things went wrong. This she didn't mind in the slightest but seeing one of her boys in such a state just didn't suit her whatsoever. Her jesting quickly shifted into a more serious expression and she offered a gentle nuzzle to greet him in a more suitable fashion. Tugging lightly at his braided mane, she could at least be satisfied that he had been taking care of himself on a physical note...
"Why no smiles, hm?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 5:22 pm
"I..."
The words died abruptly, all the explanations... all of the reasons...everything that he had come up with over the past two months to console himself after Bonfire left him... left their family..
All of the excuses really.
I really took to long coming up here. Killian chided himself mentally, closing his mouth with an audible snap, though the faint glimmer of a grin never quite left the corners of his mouth. This was home afterall, right here with his mother.. no matter where he went or where she went.
Home was where the heart was... right?
Eventually he continued his initial line of thought.. starting with the easiest this time.
"One way out of a great many overdue ways... and I'm.. sorry for that." He mumbled, glancing down. "I'm also sorry for not ... um... coming to you sooner about... uh.. Bonfire." Berating himself for being a mumbling, bumbling fool in his head, the bright orange stallion wondered how FAR he was going to shove his hoof up his mouth in one conversation.
Dammit, had he EVER told her about Bonfire?
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 10:33 am
Well no, Killian hadn't told Yei anything about Bonfire and her ears perked at the mere mention of her. Oho hohoho! So the twins had both found lovely mares? She would have been positively delighted at this news, had her son been smiling and as excitable as usual. However it appeared it was a little more complex than this and as such, she chose not to celebrate just yet. By the manner in which her child was speaking it appeared he had made a mistake... She sincerely doubted it involved children but clearly she was missing certain bits and pieces of the story.
Thus it was with another gentle tug of his mane that the mare withdrew again and tilted her head to the side. He stumbled, mumbled and seemed to struggle to find the appropriate words. Unfortunately Yei wasn't a mind reader and couldn't provide any aid due to this. A shame really as it upset her (just a little) to see her child so uncomfortable. That being said trials of the heart always were complex and not something that a parent should meddle in too much...
She might have been a romantic but she knew when to shut her mouth.
"Bonfire, eh?" She flicked her ears a little and offered a small smile. "And who might she be, hm?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 1:33 pm
His face flushed an even brighter shade of orangey-red when he realized he hadn't even told his own mother about Bonfire. At. All. Even the birds and random strangers knew of his predicament! Shamefaced, he dropped his head to stare at his feet... studying the slope with far more interest then he had ever granted the ground before.
Damn... how to go about this...
"Bonfire is... well.. I guess it's best to start from the beginning." He mumbled, grateful at least that his mother would at least be familiar with Bonnie's parents.
"She's about my age, and we both spent a lot of time together down at Uncle Tai's place. She's one of Blais's daughters, though to be honest Flame and Uncle Tai spent a bit more time with her and I then Blais or her mom Cynara... but that's kinda how things are down there." He was rambling... knew it.. and opted to continue...
"We were really good friends up until two years ago when.. well I thought we were something like what You and Papa are... only more like Uncle Tai and Esper.. y'know how they like to play and such when they meet up." He paused, drawing breath... and trying to stabilize his own rising emotions.
"Well.. I thought we were anyway... and I guess for a time she agreed with me... but then..."
He stopped again, this time to look up at his mother, trying ever so hard NOT to cry... show that he was at least willing to own his part of this mistake.. it HAD to be a mistake for it to turn out so wrong right?
"... she told me a few moons ago that she needed space... that she never had loved me the way I loved her... or at least she wasn't sure she did. 'Said she needed to experience more of the world before she could say she'd even stay with the family."
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Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:11 pm
All could be forgiven, if Yei had her way she would cuddle all her children in one very big bear hug and reassure them that she understood. She lived on the peaks and Killian had been so fascinated with his Uncle's little patch of heaven that he had stayed. It was a long hike home, one that would have tested anyone's endurance and in the excitement of a new romance why would one even dismiss themselves from their lover to inform their parents? In a manner of speaking the mare always stood by the belief that no news was often the best news.
...Unless otherwise proven.
Nevertheless it appeared that a little more than excitement had run through her son's mind. As he struggled to express himself the mare listened patiently and gathered the necessary pieces of the puzzle together in order to complete the picture. Somewhere down the line he had experienced what nearly every child encountered. In a manner of speaking this type of conflict was often a right of passage into adult life. He had experienced the first brief touch of love and had realised that sometimes it could be fleeting.
"Sometimes things don't always work out the way you plan for them to," the mare spoke at last, bridging the gap between the two so that she could arch her neck over her son's and embraced him. A soft sigh escaped her lips and she afforded a gentle smile, not one of pity but simply one of understanding. "Feelings change, sometimes it is only a fleeting shift and then they return..."
"I do not know who she is, but if you love her that much I should think that waiting just a little longer wouldn't hurt," withdrawing again, the mare tilted her head to the side and chuckled. "Lord knows your father waited for me to stop having a hissy fit with him, give her the space she needs and she will come back to you. If it is meant to be, it will be...you know?"
"But carrying such a heavy heart is not good for you, try to bear in mind that she sounds as hot headed as her father once was," she teased gently, though she was fairly certain Blais had now settled to an extent. "If she is anything like him, it might take a while for her to realise - maybe hope a few pine cones fall on her head, nyah?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 12:51 pm
Oddly, it was the thought of pine cones falling on Bonfire's head that finally set him off...
.. that and the embrace he had truly been longing for.
Nothing quite like a mother... he thought, sighing in a long way that suggested a sea of suppressed emotions finally releasing. He really had needed this, on a deep emotional level he hadn't (to be frank) been consciously aware of until now.
With a ghost if his inherent playfulness, Killian returned the gentle hug Yei had given him, whuffing gently when she retreated. Though he desperately wanted things to be fixed NOW, he could understand from where his mother's logic stemmed. Bonfire always had been a precocious sort... and stubborn to boot. He wasn't likely to see any results of her wandering in her own space any time soon.. and he supposed that a very large part of him never wanted to admit that that aspect of her personality could be used against him.. rather then for his amusement as it had been during their childhood. Her father's disposition was another thing he hadn't thought of...
Really, few in the Elderwillow camp spoke of what had brought them all together. He had always assumed it was a matter of respect for letting sleeping dogs lie, rather then a deliberate misdirection. Blais was, after all, their acknowledged leader, and from what little he had gathered of the tale, there was little there for Blais, or his sire Flame to be proud of.
"I.. really do love her mom... in a way that really hurts inside when she's gone." He finally mumbled, closing his eyes. "So I hope.. I really really hope what you are saying is true."
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Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 6:48 am
Everything worked out the way it did for a reason, or so the mare liked to believe. The fact that a bunch of odd ball 'children' had come together to form a herd was indeed unusual but simply meant to be. Yei wasn't aware of everything that occured in the Elderwillow camp, but she was familiar with bits and pieces. Granted she found out everything a tad late due to the distance, but the long and the short of it was that even she knew the 'ranks' that existed in the herd. Blais was leader not so much by default, but because when he was younger he had shown potential to be a good leader.
...Right?
She gave a mental shrug at her own assumptions and offered another of her lazy smiles. There was nothing like a good joke, a gentle jest and tease to bring about a smile or a slightly lighter heart! It didn't always work but most of the time she had a reasonably good success rate. There was no doubt in the firey mare's mind though that in some way, Killian was going to remain as impatient as ever - bubbly as he was, he would want a quick fix and in a manner of speaking she could relate. She'd always wanted quick fixes when she was younger.
Oh but he really, really seemed to love this mare!
"If you love her that much then wait a little longer, but don't put your life on hold for her either," she advised softly. "Enjoy your life and perhaps when she realises you don't need her constant attention she will have a change of heart," she pointed out. It wasn't strictly true, she postiviely thrived on the attentions of her own mate, but sometimes feigning a little indifference worked out for the better. "Independence is a good thing to have, it makes the closeness of another so much more special..." she reassured him and then chuckled.
"Stay positive, and smile when you can. Hope is a good thing to have, Killian - if you don't smile you'll turn into Ambroise and while I love your grumpy brother dearly I only require one of him - you know?" she teased.
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 10:44 am
"Oh, but with two we could make stoney faces at one another!" Killie retorted, laughing. He'd always found those of a more stoic nature entertaining, and his own brother was scarcely an exception to his teasing whenever he was actually in the area...
..then again, perhaps it was for the best that he had taken off to live with his uncle so young... maybe he WOULD have grown a stone face to match his brother's! What would he have done then, with only one expression to show to the world? The very thought broadened his grin until he shook his head and settled on a weary smile.
Gratefully though, the part of his mind that had been worrying so much about Bonfire settled.. partially due to his mother's words.. and partially due too the lighthearted exchange. He'd really missed this, and it took living it again to fully realize how delicately everyone down south must have been walking around him.
"Y'know, I feel kind of bad now, even Uncle Tai hasn't smiled much around me recently... they all must think they are walking on eggshells so as not to .. I dunno..." He own thoughts ended there... were they upset WITH him, or upset FOR him, and were afraid to set him off?
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Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 9:32 am
Now that was the smile she was familiar with, that fleeting grin and while it may have disappeared soon after it had appeared she saw potential. He was a little upset, uncertain of where things would lead him but he was thinking positively (or at least trying to). As his mother Yei couldn't ask for anything more and smiled proudly as he mused over her words before speaking more about his uncle. Really, she was going to have to revisit her adoptive brother and shower him with love and appreciation for caring for her son as much as he had - admittedly she could see why he might walk on eggshells but still...
Males just weren't good at this heart to heart stuff.
That being said somewhere Ambroise would have been proud that his 'stoic' expression had brought a smile to his brother's lips. Serious as he might have been, like his mother he deeply cared for his family. If his stormy expression brought entertainment (as seemed to be the case) then so be it, provided they were happy there was nothing he could ask for. Alas, it was a mother's doting ways that made it really made the journey home worth the while, the memories were just an added bonus (in Yei's biased opinion)!
"Darling as good as you are at games I'm not sure you could keep a stoney face for long," she pointed out gently before chuckling. However as he mentioned Tai again she shook her head and smiled warmly. "Stallions have never excelled at heart to hearts, sometimes they feel it's better if they say nothing at all. I don't know what it is - maybe it's male pride or something but you all seem to like to work things out on your own." She shrugged at this and nudged at her son gently.
"Maybe you should just let him know you're okay, maybe he'll treat you like he used to then? Sometimes males are a puzzle in that regard...you know?"
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