|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 9:53 am
Zalashji nodded at his father's words, somewhat surprised that he was following. "I think I would help protect your herd. You are family, after all. I just do not understand your beliefs enough to know if I would follow them." He looked at his father. "That is part of why I wanted to speak with you, to learn more of your ways."
Digesting the information about the Loa, the younger stallion chuckled. "Perhaps the sea is a Loa, too, then. It can be good or bad, it can sustain us or destroy us. I think mother and the herd believe in it as something of worship because it is tangible. I know they believe in spirits, too, I never asked much about what kind." He shrugged as he walked, carefully picking his way through the undergrowth. "There are a lot of traditions the older naga no longer really follow in this new land."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2013 12:22 pm
"You'll take that up with Mama then....if you feel brave enough." He murmured, not really sure how Zalashji would fare against the rest of the family. "Unless you're willing to follow our ways...she will make you leave. At best, with nothing against you. At worst...a curse, Amani sent after you, perhaps one of the others as well." Atal'ai finished, giving him a look. Somewhere down inside of him, he cared about all of his children. He didn't want anything to happen to them.
After a while he snorted at the idea of the ocean. "If the sea is really a Loa, that would be why I cannot harvest it's power."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2013 7:24 pm
"She would turn away someone willing to offer help if your herd? Strange ways," Zalashji said, then shrugged. "But they are yours and I will respect them."
The younger stallion laughed, grinning at his father. "I never thought of it that way. I always thought it was just too big to be harnessed by just one being. There are ways to take some of its power, though. I could show you and you can take it back to Grandmama."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2013 11:31 pm
The older stallion gave him a curious look. He remembered Darkspine once saying there wasn't a way she knew of to harness the power of the ocean. What made his son so different? "Show me." Atal'ai said, giving him a firm look. He wanted to know. That sort of power would mean everything to the herd.
"I'll follow you back to the beach. Show me how to take the water's power."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:38 am
"Very well," Zalasji said, picking up the pace as the swamp began to give way for the beach. "I can show you what Shal'zaru taught me, but I'm not sure if you will be able to do it, too. I'm thinking you might, though, because you're close to the spirits."
The young stallion trotted along the beach, serpentine tail leaving a long mark behind him in the sand as he made his way to the naga territory. "What we need is a tide pool."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 4:08 am
He followed after him, lagging behind after a long while to watch the trail in the sand left by Zala's tail. He began to only vaguely listen to what was being said, instead getting lost in his own thoughts and actions.
"....no I'm not going back to see her. I'm not visiting. I'm only getting the power of the water!" He muttered, arguing with himself. "Stop it! It's for Mama."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 4:19 pm
Zalashji tilted his head back slightly when his father spoke, but having been told of the older stallion's apparent broken mind by his mother, he let it be. No sense in upsetting his father and making him leave. He came to a stop at the first tide pool and nosed around it. "Hm. No. This one isn't right for it. There should be one around here somewhere." He moved on to a few other tide pools near by.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 5:02 pm
Atal'ai continued to argue with no one, as he haphazardly followed Zala. He paused several times, usually a good distance away. Eventually he fell silent and stood in one place for a long while. He turned his attention toward the younger stallion and stared at him in silence.
"....did you find a pool?" He asked after a while, moving to catch up with him. "There are tons around here. Pick one." The stallion muttered at him, growing slightly impatient with the pool hunting. Why couldn't just any old pool do? They all had the same type of water in them. He idly began to wonder if it was the creatures in the pool instead. He stopped once more and shoved his nose into the nearest pool, rooting around the water.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 1:26 pm
The young stallion ignored his father's impatient grumping, looking about at the tide pools. He had a hard time not laughing when Atal'ai put his nose in a pool, though. "That will not make it work, Father." He cast about again and found what he was looking for, a pool that was charged with whatever the faint energy of the sea that the twins had shown him how to harness.
"Watch, Father," Zalashji called, touching a finned hoof to the surface of the pool and concentrating on the energy within. The pool glowed brighter and formed a small mound of water that separated and hovered as a ball above the rest of the pool. The young naga was nowhere near as gifted as the twins, though, and the small bubble of water soon popped and rained back into the pool. "I have never been able to do more than a few moments, but the twins can do a lot more and in the open waters."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 4:12 pm
Atal'ai snapped around in the pool for a moment, trying to grab hold of anything. He snuffled after a moment, pulling his nose out for air with the arm of a starfish hanging from his mouth. He pricked his ears forward, becoming focused on what the young stallion was doing.
"How? How do you take it's power?" He inquired, moving closer after dropping the poor starfish's arm back into the other pool. "Tell me! I want to know!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 4:27 pm
"You have to start with the right kind of sea water. Some that has been charged with the sea's energy. Then you just..." He gestured a bit with his tail, trying to find out how to explain it. "Call to it. I am not sure how to say it. It feels like reaching out with your spirit and touching light or liquid, and then the water does as you want. I can only make the bubbles, but I know how to find the right water. The twins are able to do a lot more, but I do not think I will ever be to their level."
He glanced at his father. "You can probably take some of this water home to Grandmama to examine. She might be able to do something with it if she is as powerful as you say."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 5:07 pm
"Touch it..." he thought on that as he moved closer to the pool and watched it carefully, waiting for it to do something without his help. When it became clear the water wasn't going to react purely with him staring at it, he tried to do what his son had done just moments before. The older stallion moved a bit and stuck a hoof out to touch the water, closing his eyes on thinking heavily on it.
'You're not meant to take those powers...'
"Yes I am! We can take whatever powers we want!" He barked, opening his eyes and hitting the water of the tide pool in frustration. Atal'ai knew the Loa were right. This wasn't theirs to have, but it wasn't going to stop him. The stallion looked around and grabbed a large conch, filling it with the water from the tide pool.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 6:18 pm
Zalashi watch his father's outburst, feeling concerned and a little sad that the older stallion was so troubled, "I am sorry you are unable to move the water, too. It must be a naga gift." He looked toward the island and then back at his father looking at the conch shell. "Did you want to see Mother before you left? I could go fetch her."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 8:27 pm
A surprised look came over the stallion's face as he quickly turned his attention towards Zala. "Fetch? She...wouldn't want to see me." He spat out quickly, dropping the shell in the sand at his feet. "I...." He was torn, hearing she had originally wanted to see him again was strange enough. As was his other son going out of his way to track the older stallion down.
Atal'ai didn't know what to think.
"She hates me. I stole your brother then cast him aside. She hates me." He said, looking down at the shell and debating re-filling it and running off.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 8:44 pm
"She does not hate you. She is... was... sad by you taking my brother and leaving. Disappointed," the younger stallion explained. "I know you had your reasons and she knows, too, but it still hurt her. Imagine if she had been the one to take your children and run away. You would be sad, too, I would imagine."
Zalashji shrugged a bit, watching his father. "I can not make you stay, but I think you should at least tell her why you left. You owe her that much." He paused a moment before speaking again. "And tell her my brother is okay. Leave out the part about casting him out and that you have no idea where he is." He set a hoof over the shell. "You owe me for showing you the energized sea water, and you owe her for giving you children."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
