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 Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 10:12 pm
 Mintos could remember when he first joined the Sunflare herd. Back then, there were hardly any herds (at least, so far as he'd heard). It had been a quiet, peaceful life. As a young star he had traveled from place to place without a care in the world. He'd believed that things would happen as they happened, and that there was no reason to get involved.
Unfortunately, a run-in with a vicious mare named Retinadeath had dashed those naive thoughts and taught him that sometimes stars hurt each other for reasons that did not benefit them both. It was a harsh lesson, and by far the worst experience he'd ever had in his life up until that point, but that was the funny thing about life--even the most horrible experiences led to some good things happening. If he'd never been attacked by Retinadeath, he never would have joined the Burning Sun clan. He never would have taken Nos for a mate, and he never would have had his darling boys, nor his grandson. That one act of violence had, in a strange way, benefited his life.
Now the world was changing faster than ever. Reports came in of more and more herds from all corners of the world. Talk of alliances were increasing, as was talk of war. It was strange to think that once upon a time, it had only been two herds, Sunflare and Shadow, light and dark. Now it seemed that the world was full of lots of different shades of grey.
Mintos looked over the waves crashing on the shore and sighed. He sensed movement behind him, a flash of pale blue and green in his peripheral vision. "Laminira," he said, "are we getting old now?" He was pretty sure he knew how his friend would respond--she would agree in a chipper tone, that they were getting older and wiser and that other people should watch out. Mintos smiled at the thought. Lami was a good friend for cheering a person up.
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Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 11:31 pm
Yes, the world had changed a lot since she and her sister had joined the Sunflare all those years ago. There had been beautiful things--she'd made many new friends, learned how to run without exhausting herself, learned how to use her healing magic to help people, and of course, she had met her beloved Kaede. Yet, Lami had seen horrible things, too. She'd seen foals kidnapped before her very eyes, and innocent people tricked into trysts with the Shadow.
Lami sighed. The world was becoming a darker place, even as it became a brighter one. She would be a mother soon. She had never expected that. Oh, someday, perhaps, but it had always been in the future, never in the present. What kind of world am I bringing my children into? she wondered.
One with many different herds and many different stars. Magic and races that had once been considered mythical had become commonplace. And war was brewing, even as people were being brought together to protect each other. She shivered. The world she was bringing her children into was a complicated one, at least, and a dangerous one. The question was, was it a more dangerous one than the world she had come into?
Yes, probably. She had been born in a time of peace. Now was a time of, well, not precisely war, but certainly conflict. It was not a good time to be a foal. It was instead a very dangerous time. She would have to keep a close watch on all of their children.
Lami fell into place beside her old friend, Mintos. "I don't know," she said softly. "I suppose we are." She flicked her tail nervously. She couldn't summon the energy to be as chipper as she normally was. She was just too...tired, she guessed, and slightly depressed. The world was not what it used to be...
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Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 3:35 pm
Mintos blinked. That...wasn't exactly the response he had been expecting. She agreed with him, yes, that much was expected, but he hadn't expected her to sound so...defeated. He risked a glance at her and saw her eyes staring off into the distance. He followed the direction of her gaze, but she was just looking into the distance, nothing special. She wasn't looking at anything in particular, just the world in general. The ocean waves, the distant sky...
Mintos found himself heaving a sigh. If even Lami could be depressed, what hope did anyone else have? Still hope. Still always hope. There was a reason Lami might be depressed, and it was a reason that Mintos knew all too well. He knew what was on her mind--it had weighed heavily on his mind once upon a time. The only reason it wasn't crippling him now was...experience, really. He was experienced enough to understand that a more complex world meant a world with light where you thought there was only shadows, as well as the other way around.
In all likelihood, Laminira was consumed with thoughts of parenthood. She was a first-time mother, after all--and Kaede was very heavy with foal. They expected the foals any day now, and judging by how big she was...well, there were going to be a lot of children born to the Burning Sun soon, and she was probably worried about what kind of world she was going to bring them up in. Yes, that was probably it. The question was...how did you bring up this conversation with her? How did you reassure your best friend that everything was going to be alright?
"You're worried about the foals," Mintos said softly. "Aren't you?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 3:50 pm
Lami jumped a little, then relaxed. Yes, of course Mintos would understand...after all, he had three children of his own. One of them was gone--Riagan, may the Signs rest his soul--and one of his grandchildren had been kidnapped. As for his other grandchild, well...
...his other grandchild was Ciaradh. There wasn't much else that needed to be said about Ciaradh, other than that he was who he was, and that there was nothing more to be said about that. So yes, Mintos would know what it was like to be worried about his offspring, and he'd know what a dangerous world they had been born into, that her own children would be born into. True, her children were safer than Odhran was--the Shadow had not yet (yet) been known to kidnap children that were not their own. Yet. Oh, she had just jinxed it, hadn't she...
Lami shifted a little and nodded. "Yes," she whispered, as though saying it any louder was bad luck, as if it would bring misfortune down on all of them. "I am worried about them. I know it's silly--they're very safe--but I feel unsafe nonetheless. I feel like...like there's a great danger sneaking up on us to consume us at any second." She shook her head. "Sorry for burdening you with all of this, Mintos. But I feel as if I will burst if I do not discuss it with someone."
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Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2019 10:30 am
Mintos shook his head. "No, that's understandable, Lami. Sometimes, you just need to talk about it with someone." He smiled. "I take it as a compliment that we are close enough friends that you are comfortable sharing with me." He bumped his shoulder against hers comfortingly. "As for your worry? It's legitimate. All parents feel this way. It probably becomes...less acute for your second or third batch of children, but the first batch are always the most nervewracking. You're wondering if the world you're going to raise your children in is the world you actually want to raise your children in."
He still wasn't sure about that. The world was getting more and more complicated as he got older. When he first Fell, there had been only two herds, the Sunflare and the Shadow. The light and the dark. Now there were so many other herds, so many shades of grey. He wasn't sure he liked it. It was just...worrying. Sure, there were good things--like Llyn Dinas, a shining beacon in the night--but he'd heard of other herds forming in distant places, some lighter shades of grey, and others much, much darker ones. So much had changed. "Are we getting old, Lami?" he said softly.
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Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2019 10:40 am
Lami flushed. "Well, you've always been a very good friend to me, Mintos. A finer friend I could not hope to find." It was true--of all the Stars in the Burning Sun that she was not related to, she was closest to Mintos. They were kindred spirits; they had similar worldviews. They were both optimists; they both knew the sun would rise tomorrow, no matter how dark the storms were today. Obviously, she was closer to Neri and Kaede, but Mintos was her best friend. "If I can't confide in you," she added, "then I am truly in trouble." Some things needed a friend to talk to; there were things she could only talk about with Neri, and some things she could only talk about with Kaede, but this, this was something she could only talk about with Mintos, with someone who had felt the way she felt now, but it had passed. At least, as much as it could with how tempestuous his life, and the life of his descendants, had been.
At least things were looking up for Mintos's family in the future--Garmionnt had found a nice girl in their herd, and it seemed like things were going well for them. After all the trouble they had been through, Mintos's family deserved a victory (as well as a daughter-in-law like Wink, a very nice girl!).
At Mintos's question, Lami turned her head and looked at him. Old...? What did he mean? After a second's thought, she realized what he meant and she gazed out to sea again. Yes...the world was much, much different than the one they had fallen to. "I suppose we are older now than we were before..." she said softly. "But that is the nature of things, isn't it? We're getting older now, that's to be expected. And I suppose the world is a more...complex place than it was when we were younger, but that doesn't mean it's a worse place." She smiled. "You comforted me, and I appreciate that, thank you. Now let me comfort you, Mintos: the world has changed, and we're older now, but there's still a place for us. There will always be a place for people like us--for those who protect the innocent, for those that stand up for the meek. And if there ever comes a day when there isn't a place for us...then that will be a day for celebration, for on that day, the world will truly be a better place."
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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2020 2:45 pm
"Thank you, I try to be a good friend." Being friends with Lami had always felt natural. They understood each other, and he felt sometimes like she was the only person he didn't have to justify himself to. His mate was fiesty, and he loved her, but Nos was a fighter, while Lami was a pacifist like he was.
She was right, though--they were both ready to take risks to protect the world. His heart felt lighter in his chest at her words and the world seemed brighter, warmer. The ocean even looked a little bluer when he looked at the world hte way she had just lain it out. He nodded his head. "Thank you for the comforting words, Lami. They really help." He turned and smiled. "I for one hope that day comes soon. I would like to see peace again. I haven't seen real peace since I Fell. If we could have peace in the world, for our children and our grandchildren, then I would gladly create a world in which I no longer needed to be a warrior.
"But," he added. "I disagree with you." Laminira turned her head to stare at him and he grinned. "I think we'd still belong in that world. But not as warriors. The world will always need mothers and grandfathers."
Laminira laughed. "You're right. You're usually right." She took a deep breath, as if a weight the size of a mountain had just been lifted from her shoulders. "I feel much better now. Thank you--for all of this."
"Like I said," he said. "My pleasure. Now come on, let's go back, join the others, see our mates. I'll race you there." With that, they turned back eastward to home.
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