There were flaws to his approach at parenting. After returning from the expedition in the Barrens to rescue Wanderlust, Aldwyn had realized this with alarming clarity. During his time away, Grandfather Tree had summoned his foal and recognized Bryone as an apprentice... Aldwyn had initially been upset. It was too soon, Bryone was too young, how dare he wander alone into the Barrens! As Papa, it should be his choice to decide when Bryone was ready-
But the thought had barely crossed his mind before Aldwyn realized the incorrectness of it. The appaloosa buck had waited many moons to receive his own gift. There'd been no need to rush it, and he'd wanted to feel capable of successfully utilizing any magic he received before approaching Grandfather Tree. He'd wanted to learn and know and prepare.
But this was not the type of noulicorn Bryone was.
His foal, or rather, his son was much more headstrong, more adventurous, eager for progress and to prove himself. Nothing like a young Aldwyn at all. It would serve to reason that Grandfather Tree would acknowledge that desire by granting the young buck a magical gift. And it was not Aldwyn's place to question the will of the great oak. Spending Bryone's foalhood trying to temper his excitable spirit with reason and patience had only spurred the youngster to push forward the moment Aldwyn was too far away to stop him. It had always been like that. Bryone had darted unsupervised into the Ruins, expressed his delight in being born of the Barrens, remained excited through all of Aldwyn's warnings and hesitation.
Aldwyn should have expected this. He should have known Bryone would leap headlong into any challenge and face opposition with confidence. It shouldn't have surprised him that Bryone had been granted his gift no matter how young and inexperienced he seemed to Aldwyn...
Just another misstep on his part.
As he looked back now, Aldwyn wished he'd done more to direct Bryone's strengths of eagerness and excitement rather than try and replace them with quietness and patience. He'd brushed it off as all foals being eager, but there was no reason to try and shift away from that besides his own fear that it would've led the youngster into trouble.
He had to remain optimistic, though. Bryone may have been recognized as an apprentice, but he was still under Aldwyn's care. There was room yet for Aldwyn to try and adapt to nurturing Bryon'e strengths.
It did involve honing in on his own, though.
It meant taking the time to practice with his gift, it meant actively seeking knowledge instead of simply waiting for it, and it meant familiarizing himself with the terrains he'd avoided. That was what brought him to the Ruins of Erli that day.
What he knew of this place he knew only because of one single expedition and a myriad of things other noulicorns had told him. But he needed to spend more time here, uncovering what use his gift would be here- and perhaps figuring out a way to give his son direction as he took his first steps into self-sufficiency.
Aldwyn moved slowly, silently as he stepped through the paths forged by the Others. The habitation units towered on either side of him, grey stone and metal melding into red brown rust as they tapered off up into a misty sky. Lichens clung to the sides of the buildings, and vines long-forgotten tumbled in thick rivulets off of tall balconies. Splintered shards of glass and rusted metal littered the pathways, the eerie creaking of doors flapping in the breeze followed him. He inhaled, tasting air heavy with the scent of rot and rust.
There was still greenery here now, striving to survive in the wake of the Others, but once this whole area had been forest. Aldwyn tipped his head at a crack in the concrete, the dirt bubbling through as if desperate to taste the air again. He moved to a vine tendril and collected a bud from its length.
There was no telling if the bud would survive away from the mother plant, but Aldwyn liked the idea of trying to help it. He knelt to the cracked earth, delicately smearing away a layer of dirt so that he could tap the bud down into the crack. He leaned, touching the tip of his horn to the bud as a vibrating energy coarse through him. His horn lit in a brief glow, and there came a crack of magic as a small sprout blossomed forth from the bud, pulling itself from between the creases in the concrete.
It was a small addition, but he hoped that the plants roots would grow strong, spreading beneath and around the concrete and causing other cracks, where more of the dirt would open to the sun, where more foliage could sprout...
Aldwyn moved along, continuing his survey of the area.
Next came the inside of one of the units. It was scattered in metal utensils and cracked glass. Shelves of books and some kind of plush cushioned contraption sat neatly nestled away into a corner. There were wiry bits and poking bits and wooden bits littering the floor, all covered in a protective layer of dried and cracking leaves.
Aldwyn was hesitant to venture too deep. He thought it might be nice, though, to bring back some trinket to Bryone: a gift to express that even though Aldwyn had been upset at the realization that Bryone had gone to Grandfather Tree without Aldwyn's knowledge, Papa still intended to stand by him and support him... They were a family, after all.
He found a neatly cut metal slate. It was thin, but sturdy, with rounded edges that seemed almost out of place among the sharp outlines of nearly everything else in the Ruins. The slate was speckled with dark soot and some scrawl from the Others, but when he tried to smear it away with the leaves, he found that the writing wiped off quite easily. Aldwyn was immediately amused. It seemed like the type of present he would give. A note board that could be cleared away when new information was presented.
Perhaps it would help Bryone in keeping important knowledge near to him. Aldwyn took the scrap board and headed back to Homewood. Along the way, he paused to collect red berries, purple flowers, and a showering of yellow pollen. When he was a foal, his mama had prepared for him tools to allow him to utilize colors in his own notes, and Aldwyn had no doubt that Bryone would appreciate the colors.
A gathering in a clearing along his path halted him, though. Aldwyn heard only the faintest from afar, but there was an adept crafter seeking toys for foals who had somehow been separated from their parents.
Aldwyn regarded his board and his coloring sticks and thought again how this was certainly something that suited him as a foal...
But not Bryone.
Bryone would not want to take the time to write notes or leave doodles, and Aldwyn doubted he would be keen on erasing them once he'd already exerted the effort. The gift was meant to show his support, but Bryone needed no trinket to symbolize such a thing from Aldwyn. He would simply need to look to see his papa there. And perhaps most importantly, Bryone was nearing adulthood. He didn't need toys, anymore.
Aldwyn approached Scoria with a dip of his head. He offered her the board and the writing sticks and was surprised when she offered him a stone in turn. He hadn't been near enough in passing to realize what the gathering was, but now that he stood before her, the adept explained that she was seeking willing parents to give the stones to in exchange for seeing something that youngsters could play with.
"I'm not sure I'm the best parents," he admitted, knowing that he could have done more for Bryone and feeling sorry for how woefully unprepared he'd been when he adopted the youngster.
But Scoria laughed in answer. "Parents are nouls too," she replied. "And we are all beacons for mistakes. Moving past your faults and being willing to give everything you are in care for another in service enough. Please." She offered him the stone again, and he took it delicately in his teeth.
He did care for Bryone. He feared for him, and the entire course of his life had changed at allowing a foal so suddenly into it... But even though he'd been frightened and uncertain, it still swelled in him a feeling of accomplishment to think of the day his foal would be ready to brave the dangers of the world and give back to Vykeli.
Maybe there would come a day when he was prepared to try with another youngster.
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