Life just wasn't fair. Even more was the fact that learning that lesson always had to be the hard way. Someone couldn't just say that to you, you had to experience it for yourself.
Usually when someone got hurt, they would mope around for a few days, maybe even a little bit more than normal (depending on the amount of pain), talk to their friends and family and then get over it. The pain would subside but the memories were always hanging on the shoulders....haunting. But this....this was a different story. The old, dried out stallion was crushed. The world around him seemed to be caving in, and swirling around and it just wouldn't stop. Every day that passed made it worse than the one before, because it just meant another day alone...
You see, Bairn's mate left him one afternoon, without even a goodbye. He was out on an adventure to find their children and when he came back, she was gone. He waited by their resting spot for days, and days quickly turned to weeks...and still no sign of the mare he fell for. At first the stallion found himself in the denial stage, and with the birth of his second batch of grandchildren....his youngest, Tiramisu, she helped him get passed it. She would spend hours on end with her grandfather, and they would just talk. At first the talk was about his former mate, and now it was about everything. The young mare could approach him without worrying about setting him off.
Bairn was just upset. He was over the fact that she left him, but he wanted to know why. Wasn't she the one who told him that she wanted him to go find the children? Wasn't she the one who pushed this relationship on him in the first place? Way back when they were young, wasn't she the one who fell in love with him, even though he protested her love? She was the one who hung on until he gave in and loved her back. So what happened? Surely she realized that this...decision she made caused him pain...so why did she do it? Didn't she have enough class to at least say goodbye for one final time? The stallion was at a loss for reasons, except one. This family thing that 'accidentally' happened wasn't what she wanted in life, and she couldn't do it anymore. Kiefer, Abattie and Tahlia came randomly one day, without either of them wanting it. Bairn took the news as utter amazement. He couldn't be happier, he was going to be a father! His father would be proud of him, for growing up past the grumpy 'life sucks' stallion than he once was. But his mate....she was torn apart. She thought she was too young to start a family, too young to raise foals just the two of them. Perhaps she was right, perhaps she WAS to young, and not just age...but emotionally and mentally. But whatever the reason, Bairn always thought they did a fine job. Sure Tahlia disappeared all together, Kiefer had two sets of b*****d children and Abattie was a stallion-chasing emotional wreck, but they loved their parents greatly. That was what mattered. Family relations.
The day was warmer than most, and it brightened up the washed out stallion's mood, for even just a second. At least something in this world was right for once. The weather. Bairn stood by a watering whole, staring at his reflection in the melting ice with an expression that read utter unhappiness. But the break up wasn't the thing that bothered him anymore...it was the simple fact that he was getting upset again, and he promised himself he never would. There was a stage, way back then, when he lashed out at anyone who tried to be nice to him, because he honestly believed that life was pointless. He was a walking depression drug, and he couldn't get out of it. And he hated who he was. When his mate came along and dragged him out of that stage, Bairn couldn't be happier. He found a reason to live....and now, well...he was heading toward that stage that he promised never to revisit. Maybe not as strong as before (because now at least he had kids who depended on him) but he was still in that direction.
And for what? Because he was alone? That was a pathetic excuse, and couldn't even believe he was thinking it. Being alone isn't that big of a deal....so why was it bothering him now?
