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 Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2012 12:35 pm
It took Haki a moment to realise he was crying, to realise too that Heze was crying also.... but then again, it had been her drawn out sobs that had summoned him from his thoughts, his memories and back to reality. "Don't cry.... please.... no cry Heze." He said softly, even as his own tears continued to fall. He realised he had never really let them fall before, and now they seemed to be catching up on all those times he should have unlocked his feelings.
Using his claw he wiped at his eyes softly to remove the flow and trails from his eyes. Part of him wanted to reach out and do the same for Heze.... but that wasn't right, was it? He knew she would accept it, that the touch of another, even one such as him, wouldn't repulse her, but still he couldn't do it.... couldn't bring himself to touch her and deny whoever she took as a mate first rights to such a thing.
Scruffling her nose against her front legs, having raised one a little so she could get to her eyes, sniffing softly, though she might have slapped him had she been a mind reader. As it was she settled down again, laying on the grass, shifting to her side, her wings still spread. Looking up at the sky. "What will you do when you are healed?" Having an image in her head of him flying away, not wanting to ponder on why that made her chest ache.
Haki looked at Heze for a moment, watched as she wiped away the tears. His heart throbbed as she asked her question, What would he do? He didn't know anymore. He had always thought he should just leave, to give this herd their freedom from him, give Heze her freedom from him.... after all, if he couldn't hold his own against a creature that threatened her kind... then he was of no worth or use to any of them. Worthless. Not something he was used to, even when he had been reluctant about it... he had still made a good leader, had still lead the group to success before disbanding in search of his own life.... "I..." He knew that he had already told her once today that he would leave, but now.... she said she liked him, did she mean it the way he had? Was that the only reason he was hesitating? Or did it have more to do with the mare herself....? "...know not." He said softly. Looking away from her. "I... think it best... to leave."
What could she say to that? She nodded and closed her eyes, turning away from the sky and the image of him flying away. He was free to do as he wished and she could not keep him, so she said nothing. After all what was there to say? Short of fare well or begging him to stay... It was not time for Fare well yet and she knew better than to ask him to stay, he had to be free to choose what made him happy.
With her silence Haki fell silent too. He didn't know what to say or do... and so went for the only thing that popped into his mind. "I... I shall sleep." He said softly, lowering his head to the ground and moving slightly to get comfortable. Whispered words were spoken into the sway grass, even as he closed his eyes. "Forgive me... Heze."
Nodding and sitting up again, folding her wings, going back to watching him as he was going to sleep. "Always Haki, there is nothing to forgive, follow your heart wherever it leads you." Her voice gentle, she understood even if she wished he would stay. But she would never ask, she couldn't ask, asking him to stay was selfish, but thne if he chose to remain, maybe then her liking him would change and grow. Either way she would let him choose. So with that she smiled despite feeling a little sad and started humming a tune her father had sung to them as foals.
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2012 12:37 pm
It didn't take Haki long to fall to sleep, and when he did he found his dreams filled with a certain purple mare, of standing with her under the Moon she held so dear, her family surrounding them.... he smiled in his dream and in reality, even as his mind whsipered that touch ceremony was a scared and secret thing shared between lovers.... in the dream it only seemed right and fitting to do it this way.... but when it came to him trying to touch her thunder and lightning roared all around him.
He woke with a start, not sure how long he had been asleep. Heavy droplets of rain slammed into his pelt, a few making him wince as they struck his wounds with force, he readjusted his wing to try and protect himself.... his eyes wandering... it was dark, but a different kind of dark to how he had gone to sleep, as if it was day and the Sun was trying to break through the strom filled sky above. Fitting, he supposed, it echoed his thoughts right now... he was trying to find his own source of light.
Hurrying back, the rain having woken her and knowing Haki could probably not move without help she had gone to borrow something Eden had found, it helped keep water off of things. She had shooed Eden away to shelter with her mate, knowing her mother would bite her ears off if she let Eden out in this weather when she was expecting foals.
As it was she stopped by Haki and shifted, dropping the bundle on her back to the ground with a squelch. Murmering to herself as she worked on setting it up. Unfolding the cloth square, though it was not like any cloth she had seen before. Covering Haki with it carefully, murmering an apology. Glad of the wet mud as she stabs some sticks into the corners on one end, rolling rocks on it to keep it down.
Finding the other end more fiddly, she had to have this side raised, jamming the sticks in first before fiddling with them, after several tries she manages to get the corners over the upper ends of the sticks. Soaked by the time she had the shelter made, but at least he was covered now so he wouldn't get totally soaked. Sitting back near by, fluffing her wings up agaisnt the rain rather than crouding under the shelter with him.
Haki tried to see what Heze was doing, he could hear her labooured breath, feel the weight of something thick and heavy... still, he had no idea what she was doing until she finished. The rain no longer pounded on his flesh, he was thankful for that... but as he looked at Heze he felt an echo of his earlier thoughts... his light? He blinked and shook his head, now was not the time for such thoughts, he should be thinking about Heze and the fact she was still in the rain. "Cover... find..... out of rain, Heze." He said softly, not sure the contraption she had constructed around him was enough for two of not. Still, he didn't want her out in the rain. "I be ok." He said softly, not wanting her to fear for him.
Heze gave him a bright smile, not seeming to care that she was in the rain and soaking. "Rain never hurt anyone, besides those of us that were hurt... I'll be fine." Tilting her head back and looking up at the storm, finding it interesting, she hadn't seen a storm like this before. Gasping as a flash lit the sky up for a moment, leaving her blinking.
"Cold... don't catch." He found himself saying, hoping he used the right words. He hadn't stumbled across many 'sick' while travelling so his vocabulary on the topic was limited. Still, she had a point, rain didn't usually do much harm to their kind.... even injuried he imagined it would do little harm. He watched her gasp at the thunder and lightning, had she never seen it before? That was the impression he got at least, he often saw such storms, the heat from just beyond the dessert enough to cause roaring tropical storms to rage for days at a time.... Haki predicted this particular storm would be far less impressive, a few hours at most. Still he looked up as a fork of lightning littered the sky, it was pretty. "Ngurumo na umeme." He said, nosing up towards the sky as if to demonstrate he meant the name of the storm. "Beautiful.... is it not?" He smiled at her before looking back up. "They say.... that stores," He had meant storms, "like this.... are the...." He couldn't remember the word in her tongue to begin with but quickly recovered. "...Gods angry." He smiled softly again, his attention falling back to Heze. "Pia alisema kuwa wakati watu wawili ambao huduma kwa karibu kila mmoja kukaa chini ya ngurumo ya dhoruba na kutoka unharmed kwamba wamekuwa heri." (It is also said that when two people who care for each other sit close under the roar of a storm and come out unharmed that they have been blessed.)
Nodding and smiling at him. "I can't catch a cold if I don't chase it, and I'm not going to budge." Her mane no longer cury under the weight of the water, finding herself edging closer to him when the thunder rumbled, nodding. "Beautiful, though I wonder what made the gods angry..." Stopping when she realiesd she was edging closer, only noticing when she was close enough that the shelter deflected some of the rain away from her.
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2012 12:38 pm
Haki didn't mind that she was inching closer, even if there was a slight threat from her touching him. The shelter seemed like it was big enough to at least offer her some protection and so he found himself try to shift a little to make more room for her, some of the feathers on his rump, falling outside of the cover. "Stay.... covered." He said softly, looking back towards the sky as if there was no secondary meaning behind his words... yet in a way there was. Although it had been Heze who built the shelter in the first place Haki felt almost as if he could provide something for her by allowing her to share.... and he longed to be of use here. Well, not just here... but specifically to her. "Who know. The Gods.... are fickle." He sighed and looked at her, "Tell me.... of your Moon.... God...?"
Heze edged a little closer, but stopped short of touching him, had they snuggled close they could both have fit easily under the shelter, but as it was her hooves and tail hung out in the growing mud. Side by side , watching the storm, trying to think how to explain. "Do you remember when we talked of spirits?" Looking at him, not havign really been this close since she learnt of the rules aobut touching.
Haki found himself completely aware of Heze, aware of everything inche of her flesh and body... and not just because he was trying to keep her at a distance so that they didn't touch. He flushed a little, thankful for the storm and lack of light. He nodded, not trusting himself to speak right now, he vaguely remembered them talking about spirits.... ghosts... or the such when they first met.
Heze looked at the storm but was close enough she could see his nod in her peripheral vision. "When we die, our spirit leaves for the next world. But those aren;t the spirits I mean... The Earth, the trees, the sky, the moon..... many many things have spirits, spirits that as far as we know were never creatures of flesh." Wanting this to be understood before she tried to explain their connection to the moon.
Haki tried to understand what she was saying, and mostly understood it... at least he thought he did. She was talking about 'souls' of things, right? That even things such as the Moon and Stars could possess. "I see..." He said a little hesitantly.
Nodding as he seemed to be following. "I was taught that the moon is sent as a guardian of the night, and that while it keeps us from total darkness while the sun rests it is not strong enough alone, which is why some nights it is gone. The moon and the sea share a bond, when the moon calls the sea rises to meet it. Through this connection they are linked to my grandfather, which is how the connection joins to my family and herd.... When grandfather became an elder he met and spoke with Alignak, God of the Moon, and Disasters... Since then he has worn the mark of the moon and believes that the god has granted us his blessing...." Jumping again when a fork of lightning seemd to strike the lake with a loud clap of thunder.
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2012 12:40 pm
Sea... the Ocean? He thought they were one and the same, so many different words for one object, it was no wonder he got confused at times. He nodded, understanding a little now about what they believed. Still... Alignak? He knew not that name, but for an elder to speak with a God... were they truly so blessed? It was true that he had seen the moon mark upon the black and white stallions rump but had thought nothing of it. Was that... the touch of a God? It was... mindblowing to behold. Never before had Haki seen an elder, let alone heard of their experience. "I see. So it is... your grandfather... and Alicknax..." He tried to say Alignak but said it wrong, "...that started the flow?" It didn't seem that the tradition was that old then, three generations, but still, it was as rooted and as solid as any other belief that Haki had witnessed. At least theirs was a pure and noble cause... unlike the darkness of the Kalona rituals he had witnessed by accident when he first arrived here.
The lightning flashed again, the thunder roared and all Haki could see was Heze jumping, he found himself suddenly wanting to comfort her. He didn't reach out with touch as he knew those in her herd would have done, instead he reached out with words. "Do no fear... the store... no harm." He smiled softly and tried to distract her again, "I believe.... you are blessed too." He chuckled a little, more at the memory of himself than her, "Unlike me." In Haki's mind he had been abandoned by not only any surviving blood relatives but by his kind.... shaking his head he forced himself not to linger, this was about Heze not him. "After store..." He wanted her to have something to look forward to after the storm, "...the world see more beautiful than before."
"The world is always beautiful, It might not all be good but I suppose there needs to be a balance, Skinwalkers are evil, the worst there is... and we... angeni are the balance for that.... just because we don't like it or because something is evil, its part of the world and beautiful in its own way...." Setting her head down on her front hooves, wishing he would comfort her, but then she wasn't scred really, it was just not something she had seen before, not like this, Storms with thunder and lightning were rare here and the few that had happened since she had been born had left her with her family in shelter away from it all, well all but the odd distant rumble. Her grandfather and the others would take turn telling stories then to keep everyone happy... This was the first time she had been out to see the storm rage.
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