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 Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 8:47 am
She had gotten distracted once already from what drew her away. But now that things had settled down, with Wolfie finding them and Ceylona discovering a special relationship with her... well, Talencia felt it was time again. Change was in the ai.
So once more Talencia gathered up her belongings and packed them securely on Delphia's back. She wasnt' leaving the teepee empty this time, though, since Wolfie was going to be occupying it during her absence. It was a comforting thought.
Then it was time. Without a look backward, she swung herself up onto Eloran's tall, warm back and clicked her tongue to him. He moved forward wilingly, Delphia a half step behind. With a smile, she rubbed her hands along his shoulder and neck, loving the silky warm feel of him... the muscles bunching and relaxing beneath her touch, and his breath pumping between her legs. It wasn't long before all three of them were charging along at a fierce gallop down the trail, heading for the mountains.
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Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 8:51 am
Eloran let the ground roll beneath his thundering hooves. It felt good to be moving again... and this time there was a strange thrill down his spine. Something was going to happen. He shuddered his hide as he ran, nickering apology as it made Talencia cling tighter to him with legs and hands in his mane.
That made he muse for a moment about the one soquili he'd met that had something attatched to him. He had gathered that it was for a human to guide him with. That simply didn't make any sense at all to him. Talencia guided him with legs and hands alone just fine. She didn't need metal in his mouth and leather to sit upon in order to show him where to go. He snorted his lack of understanding of such a ridiculous set up and tossed his head, putting on another burst of speed, his hooves thundering along the trail.
It wasn't long before the woman on his back signaled him to mvoe off the heavily traveled trail. There seemed to be no particularly apparent reason for her to have done so, but he willingly turned off into the meadow grass, slowing his pace to a sensible steady canter. You had to be careful when you couldn't see the ground, after all.
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Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 8:52 am
Delphia had charged down the trail after Eloran, but was careful not to pass him. Only Talencia seemed to know where they were going, so it would do her no good at all to pass them and then have to double back when she got left behind by a sudden change of direction.
And she was grateful that she had done so, for after a time Eloran unexpectedly turned off the path and began to slow to a canter through a grassy meadow. Delphia ranged a bit to the side of Eloran, giving them both room in case they needed it. He was still slightly ahead of her when suddenly the long grass burst upwards in an explostion of color.
Delphia had just enough time to gasp before she too was moving through the colorful cloud. From deep within the thick grasses that brushed up to her knees darted too many butterflies to count. They swirled and gusted with the passing of the horses, glittering in the air almost like tiny fragments of rainbow come down to surround them in living color. Amazed, she watched them with wide eyes. The small creatures seemed to take pleasure in the passing of the horses to stir them up, as more burst from the grasses and others twirled into a fluttering mass behind them.
Despite the packs on her back, Delphia found herself capering as she traveled through them. Tossing her muzzle to the sky, her shoulder rose into the air, forehooves tucked close to her chest, as her powerful hindquarters powered her upwards. For just a moment, surrounded by hundreds of flitting creatures, her eyes focused on the blue sky, she felt as if she could fly. Her hind hooves left the ground, and she was airborne! The moment lasted astonishingly long, suspended in time by the sheer joy she felt overcoming her. Upwards, upwards, and still upwards!
But of course, the feeling subsided as the earth drew her back into it's bosom. With her longing gaze still turned upwards, she unfolded her forelegs as she was drawn downwards, and caught herself upon the skin of the earth, time still moving slowly, though quicker than it had when she'd flown in her heart. But touching down brought everything back in a rush that made her gasp again. THe impact of hooves on land snapped her head downwards, and she gathered her hind legs under her. Catching her balance, she continued to canter after Eloran, though more sedately now. Her moment of entrancement had made her introspective. Thus, lost in her thoughts, she did not notice the cloud of butterflies dissapate and fade behind them as they moved on across the plain.
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Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 8:53 am
They had been traveling for several days now. They were far from the village and all it's pepole. A tiny fire crackled and popped merrily inside it's circle of rocks. Talencia sat near it, staring into the dancing flames and pondering this journey. She had brought plenty with her to keep her fed and sheltered for a long time yet. But where was she going? What was the point to this escapade?
She knew what had driven her to this. Her pale skin, her lighter hair... the feeling she did not belong. Despite that, she knew tthat being among the kawani people was the place for her. So why was her heart so miserable? She heaved a great sigh and her shoulders wilted. It wasn't that the villagers had been unkind or unwelcoming. In fact, they had accepted her as one of their own long ago. So what was holding her back.
Tipping her head up, she stared at the stars. Those distant sparks held no answers for her, but looking at them helped give shape to how she was feeling. She could not be seperated from her chosen life, and yet something of how she saw herself held her away from those she wished to share that life with.
With another sigh, she stretched out on her side, facing the fire. Behind her she could hear the rip-chomp of a horse grazing. The deep sound of heavy hooves meeting the ground told her it was Eloran. Delphia was much lighter on her hooves and fleet-footed. She nestled her head into the crook of her arm, her eyes full of the leaping, twisting flames while her soul struggled with some unknown opponent. Would here be no resolution? Was she simply stuck fighting with herself about who she was and where she belonged?
Just then the rip-chomp stopped. She hardly noticed, really, but the heavy hoof-falls approaching her did start to intrude upon her darkly spiraling thoughts. Still, it was a shock when suddenly a very large and extremely soft muzzle was brushed against her cheek and warm breath was huffed over her face and neck. Turning over onto her back, she smiled up at Eloran, his head stretched down to nuzzle at her. She lovingly stroked the softness of his nostrils, the wobbliness of his chin as he melted under her touch, and the strong curve of his jaw.
Somehow, here was the answer. The soquili held it within them, she felt. So she decided to let Eloran and Delphia lead her from that time on. They would know where to go.
With a grunting groan, Eloran settled himself to the ground beside her. He didn't often lay down, so she knew he wanted to keep her company, and found this the best way to be close. Gratefully, she moved closer to him, laying her head where his neck met his chest, and laying an arm down his neck. As she drifted off to sleep, his warmth and love surrounding her, his pulse strong beneath her fingertips, she sighed once more. But this time the sigh was of contentment and serneity.
Yes, the soquili held the answer. Somehow.
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Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 12:32 pm
They had arrived. She didn't know how she knew, but she did. She slipped off Elorans back and stood, gazing up in awe at the massive sequoia. It towered over them as if itheld up the sky. The ancient tree dwarfed all other trees near it, though they too soared high into the air above the tiny soquili and their human. But this tree... she was different. Talencia could feel this, deep inside.
She moved forward and placed a tentative hand upon the gnarled bark. Though she held her breath when her fingers brushed the rough surface, nothing spectacular happened. She felt no surge of inight, nor any mystical enlightnement. What she did feel was the slow, steady pulsing of ongoing life that flowed within this grandmother of treekind. She gazed upwards again, standing between two arms of the roots of this great tree. Well... she had to do something.
Turning around, the gazed at the roots, plunging into th earth on either side of her. She turned around to peer into a jaggedly cut impression in the tree. The wood swirled and gnarled there, forming unusual shapes that almost made the mind think the shapes moved. She shook her head and sat on the ground, leaning against one of the roots. Yes, she should stay here for a time. The answer was here... somehow, somewhere.
Rising with a sight, she went to find wild sod. It was time to make herself.. well, what was it she was going to make? Deep within herself, the answer came. A womb. A wom of the earth, at the feet of ancient wisdom, from which she would be reborn. This deep thought stirred, btu she mentally shifted aside from it uneasily. It wasn't an easy thing, to accept the concept of giving up all your own will to allow yourself to be brought into life anew, to give up all that came before so that you could find a fresh start and begin again.
Thus it was she turned her mind from these uncomfortable thoughts and called her two friends to her to go search out the making of her new earth house at the base of the towering sequoia.
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Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 12:42 pm
Grandmother Sequoia watched with gentle amusement as the young one came near to her, gazing at her with natural awe. Of course, she couldn't not see her as she truly was. Her eyes had not been opened yet.
With tolerance, Grandmother Sequoia allowed herself to be touched, and her life force felt. And she graciously allowed the lost little one to lean against her while the others with her grazed sedately nearby. They knew who she was. They were in tune with those living things around them. Sadly, some of their kind weren't so aware, for they had shut their ears to the earth's song and closed their eyes against the flow of life. They fought and bickered and charmed and seduced. They clamored and whined and sought more and more and more of what they wanted. But not those two. They were content to walk the path that life was pacing before them, taking turns as their hearts saw fit when new paths were opened.
But the little two-legged who sighed heavily and rose up to walk away, she sought something beyond what she had now. It was hers to take, if she reached for it, as it was for every child of the earth. Not many came here seeking it any more. Grandmother Sequoia had high hopes for this one, however. That young soul sought strongly for something it knew not. It didn't seem to faze the creature, though. She would returne, oh yes. That one would continue to seek the earth's wisdom. And it would be granted her.
With a rustling sigh and a gentle smile, the ancient being shifted, leaning with the wind and letting her leaves dance as a wind caressed her rough skin. Life was good, as this little one would soon discover. Life was always good, in the end.
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Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:37 pm
Looking back, so long afterward, Delphia now knew that had been the beginning of the end for her dear human friend. She and Eloran had helped her to build a tiny hut made of earth and living grass. It was hardly big enough for Talencia to fit in. But fit in she had.
The old mare stirred restlessly as she remembered. She recalled watching as her friend had packed earth around the 'door', then sealed herself in with a large chunk of sod. She and Eloran had cast worried looks between them, and then had stood a silent and solemn vigil. For three days Talencia had lain in the earth, enclosed and entombed. At first occasionally they could hear her weeping. Most of the time it had been silent.
She twitched her hide at the memory of the feeling of forboding. After three days, Camaren had emerged. She had changed, to be sure. Her eyes were darker. Her hair was also darker, as if stained by the deep, dark brown earth she had hidden herself in. Her skin was paler and was drawn too tight across her bones. But oh, how her eyes had shone! She seemed so happy, and Delphia had contented herself with that. If only she had known the truth.
They had all moved into the village, closer to other people. But strangely, the light within Camaren had begun to fade. Noone came to their teepee, noone looked after the strange woman who did not belong. It pained the raccoon mare's heart even now, years after. Slowly, her human friend had faded, folded inward upon herself.
And finally, she had died.
Eloran had been so stunned, so devastated, because his prospective mate had left him alone with a basket, and now he was left even more alone without a two-legged companion. He had left shortly after, taking the basket with him, but not before Delphia had breathed a blessing over the little creature. And then Delphia too had gone, leaving behind the painful memories of better times.
The time had come to move on, and so she had. But Talencia would never be forgotten.
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