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 Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 3:21 pm
Amara pawed at the earth rather harshly at the last remark. "Now that's utter nonsense. What do you mean no one needs you anymore? Even if there are those that have left you, you still have a lasting effect on them, good or bad. You were a part of their lives and that's what matters." The dark colored mare shook her head, shaking off drops of dew that had collected in her short mane.
"Even though we've just met, I'm glad to have met you. I don't regret a moment that we've been together. Most importantly, I care about your well being. I need you here because I would be greatly saddened if you weren't." Amara watched the stallion with her red eyes. "I care." Despite the sadness of her own life, she was still amazed that she lived a relatively happy life. In many aspects, she could have turned out a lot like Helaku, thinking of only the sorrows and the pain of the past.
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:56 pm
Helaku's eyes were sad as he looked at the mare. She looked only slightly younger than he, but life had obviously been much kinder to her. Her voice and words were equally kind, but he could not bring himself to trust them. "Thrice I've fallen...thrice I've failed...what if the fault is not with them, but with me? What if I am truly the one to blame?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 5:10 pm
Amara eyed Helaku once again. "Helaku... I'm sure it wasn't just you. Especially in the case of your children. Its natural for foals to leave their parents and live there life eventually. In my case, the only reason I've stayed with my father for so long was because I had no one else to be with while we travelled."
The mare paused for a moment, wondering about something in the back of her mind. "I don't know what happened in your previous relationship and it is not something that I or anyone else for the matter has a right to mettle in, but from what you told me I get the feeling that not all of it was your fault. Don't ask me why I feel that way, but it is the way I feel."
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 5:32 pm
"I am neglectful, apparently...and for that, I have no excuse, no defense. But still, I trusted..." The look turned on Amara was both distracted and considering. "You have been fortunate. Lonely perhaps, but without pain. I wonder...I wonder what that would have been like, for myself. At a time like this it sounds like a blessing." The stallion swished his dark-striped tail slowly. He was starting to feel like a broken record, protesting his pain in only marginally different ways, but it did feel good to finally allow some of it to escape.
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 5:51 pm
"No pain? Now that's a laugh," Amara replied with a strange chuckle. "I assure you Helaku that my life had plenty of sorrow in its own accord. A good friend of my father and I recently departed from the living plane while we were on our travels. I was quite the mess after her death, despite the fact that she was a bother and annoyance most of the time with me."
The black mare's face darkened a bit at the thought of the loss. "Hisa shouldn't have died like that..." Amara mumbled to herself quietly.
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:27 pm
"Perhaps I misspoke, but I think that you know what I mean." Helaku lifted his head, debris-littered mane rustling. The leaves within were dry and slightly crispy victims of the heat. Being caught in a Soquili's mane for some time couldn't help, either. "At least she did not willingly abandon you, right? You have that."
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:40 pm
Amara shrugged slightly. "I suppose so. Still, whether you are are abandon willingly or not, the pain is still the same. It still hurts." Her dark eyes clouded over slightly at the memory of that day, something that she had blocked out of her mind mostly.
Snapping herself back to reality slightly, Amara's red eyes glanced over at the stallion's mane. "Ah... do you want me to get the leaves out of our mane? My short mane and tail are only good for being mostly debris free."
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:53 pm
"...I'm sorry. I misspoke." Helaku shook his head, then glanced back at Amara. The thought of letting a strange mare get so near made his skin twitch slightly, but he knew that was not the true danger. That being so...what could it hurt? If she got too close in any other way, well...he could simply disappear. She didn't know where his teepee was, and that wasn't a location he was about to just hand out to anyone. "I...I suppose."
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 5:24 pm
A playful chuckle escaped from the mare. "Well, we can't have you looking like a mess all the time!" Amara laughed as she slowly approached the stallion. Carefully, she started to remove the leaves in the stallion's mane. There were quite a few, though it wasn't all that surprising to her. "I think I'm actually glad I have a short mane... long manes and tails get to be a hassle sometimes." Though she never admitted it, she was rather lazy when it came to grooming herself.
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 6:31 pm
"That's true..." Helaku murmured, paying attention to the feel of the leaves being removed. In all his time with mares, he had never had his mane groomed by one. While he could logically understand leaving the task to nimble-fingered humans, the psychological effect made him wonder why this had never happened sooner. "And yes, they do. At least my tail is not so long."
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 6:40 pm
The mare was gentle with her touch as she grasped another leaf and carefully pulled it out, leaving the leaf to fall on the ground. "My father has a rather long tail. The human who watches over my father and I has to tie up his tail in such a way that it doesn't get leaves in them. I think its called braiding or something like that."
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 6:50 pm
Helaku nodded. "I am familiar with the practice...never cared much for the idea of using it myself though. Two-leggers are creatures I try not to get close to." And now, it would probably remind him too much of Olathe and Elu. He could only thank the gods that his remaining children took after him more, at least in their hairstyles. "I'm...used to this, I think. Having my hair like this. It would feel strange any other way." He was growing more physically comfortable near her, although a corner of his mind was always crouching, watching, wary.
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 7:01 pm
"I have no particular love for humans either though the human who usually watches my family is a good healer. We only approach her if there's a serious problem." Amara began to tug out another leaf from the stallion's mane but it was proving to be a stubborn one... "Ah. Sorry if I tug on your mane too much. This particular leaf isn't working with me." She tried her best to tug on the leaf while not trying to tug out the poor stallion's mane. It took a little bit of work but she eventually got the leaf to work with her.
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 7:19 pm
Helaku did his best not to wince, but the tugging on his mane did hurt a bit. "No...ow...problem...I'll live, ow." He tried not to shake his mane, but the habit of doing so every now and again was a hard one to stifle. It was his usual method of removing debris, after all. "A healer is good to have around. One never knows when somebody will get hurt." In a way a healer could fix, he added mentally.
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 7:25 pm
"Ah, sorry." Amara backed off a bit as the stallion shoke his mane to get rid of some of the debris still stuck in the tangles of his mane. "Well, I think I got as much as I could out of your mane. How does it feel Helaku?" The mare's hooves crunched upon the earth now littered with fallen leaves.
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