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 Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 4:12 am
As Mirela and Tafari wandered back up the wagon train the young gypsies mind ran through a list of the caravan’s children, dividing them into fortunette and unfortunette categories. After the events in the forest involving Vanna and Aisrhan, Mirela hardly wanted to trouble the mother and her daughter – partly because she wasn’t sure that Aisrhan would be appreciate being trouble, and partly because she feared just how harsh the young girl could be. That left Annjette and Pierre. Having already had Vanna, a girl, to ask Tafari nicely to change, Mirela reasoned that it would be best to have Pierre tease Tafari in his current form.
Heading back passed Narkri Chooma to Daggerheld, two places up in the order; Mirela greeted Emelyn with a friendly wave. “Hello sister” the young gypsy said warmly, smiling awkwardly at the other woman. Guilt ran riot through Mirela. The task that she was about to ask of Emelyn’s son would not be a pleasant one, at least for Mirela and Tafari – as for Emelyn and Pierre’s reactions, she could only speculate. “I was wondering if I might have a word with Pierre” Mirela asked, falling into a steady pace beside the wagon.
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 10:44 am
Emelyn was surprised to see Mirela, standing there next to Daggerheld- but smiled for the visitor, dropping the reins to her oxen to her lap. They were not truly needed to direct the great beasts, after all. Most gypsy animals knew to follow the sight of the bobbing wagon ahead of them, and to stop accordingly. Emelyn had no fear that her wagon would lose the train.
"Pierre? Well, of course." She leaned back through the opening, grasping the reins between her knees so they wouldn't fall to the earth, and pulled open the curtain with a back-bent hand.
"Pierre?" His mother called out. "You have a visitor."
After a moment of rustling, the hedgehog-boy crawled up onto the leadseat- a sour look on his face, and not much to say. His skin and spines were still tainted an unearthly white- something Emelyn hoped would be fixed before too long.
"Mirela and Tafari wanted to see you." Emelyn then nodded at Mirela.
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Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 1:15 am
“Thankyou Emelyn” Mirela said with a smile, turning to regard the sour-faced hedgehog boy. Inhaling deeply to calm her mounting feelings of nervousness and dread, the young gypsy woman began a similar explanation and petition to that which she had give to Vanna and Lorelei.
“I have a favour to ask of you Pierre” Mirela began, her sapphire eyes watching the boy with a soft anticipation. “The meji have decreed that it is time for Tafari to grow into an infant, but they say that he has grown accustomed to his current animal form. Valelldia said that in order to permit him to grow I needed to have two other Fortunette’s aid me; one would need to ask him nicely to grow, the other would need to tease him in his current state. Vanna was kind enough to ask Tafari nicely to change, which just leaves the other task”
Casting Emelyn an apologetic look for what she was just about to ask Pierre, Mirela returned her attention to Pierre. “Please don’t think that what I am about to ask in anyway reflects how I think of you, and know that I merely wasn’t sure who else to ask”. Looking sheepish, Mirela finally asked what she had come for, although she suspected that Pierre probably already knew what she was about to ask. “I was wondering whether you would be willing to fulfil the meji’s final task, would be willing to tease Tafari in his current form?”
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Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 10:00 am
Pierre took a moment to look- first, at his mother, incredulously, then back to Mirela with a quirked brow, as if to say 'are you sure'? Then, the sour look was replaced- not for the sake of being offended, but because his recent change had made it more difficult- almost painful to be mean, and difficult. It had taken all his strength this past week just to keep his customary frown upon his face. Whatever the fae had done to him- the result was this strange, forced 'happy' interior that he felt so out of touch with. So it was from deep within him that Pierre drew the words- and, truly, he strained to say them.
"Why do you want to stay a stupid horse? You don't even look like a real horse- you're some blue color. Like someone painted you. Someone colorblind painted you. ...Who cares about an animal? Right now you're like one of the oxen. You're not important. The best magic and meij fortunes always go to the children- to us. You're just a... a ... stupid horse." Pierre finished, an extremely pained look on his face- then disappeared back into the wagon so he could fling himself to his bed and rest. He hoped that this spell would wear off- and he'd be able to be himself again.
Emelyn watched him go- and she saw the pained look on his face... but did not know what to say, or what to do for him. Soon, she would have to take him to Valelldia- to see if there was something the wagonmother could do for them. Until then, she just shook her head, and turned back to Mirela.
"I'm sorry about that." She didn't say it- but she was also sorry that Mirela would know who to come to, to get a child to say mocking words. Was she that bad a mother, that she couldn't even control her own son, that the other gypsies would point Mirela in the direction of Emelyn's son as the 'bad seed'? It put her mind at a less than easy state.
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Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 10:15 pm
Mirela winced as the onslaught began, just as much for Tafari as Pierre, while Tafari stamped and nickered indignantly. The strain within the hedgehog boy’s words and the pained expression upon his faced tore through Mirela, increasing her guilt and causing her to regret asking Pierre to perform such a task. She had assumed that the events in the forest had merely changed his colouring, but it appeared as if the change ran deeper and stronger then that. As Pierre finished flinging his insults at Tafari and disappeared back into the caravan Mirela could only watch, couldn’t offer him the thanks and the apology that he deserved.
“It is I who should apologise Emelyn” Mirela replied with a sigh. “I shouldn’t have asked Pierre such a favour. I was selfish in my desire to see Tafari grow that I failed to heed the needs of others. For that I apologise and will do my best to earn your forgiveness, and Pierre’s”. With a downcast nod Mirela turned and headed back in the direction of Narkri Chooma, Tafari following quietly at her heels.
Approaching her wagon and the waiting caravan mother, Mirela’s visage and manner was far more downcast then it had been when she had departed on her task. Beneath the roiling guilt and regret remained the thrill that her son was soon to become an infant, although Mirela couldn’t help but wonder why Emelyn’s son had to undergo so much torment for her son to progress to his next stage. “It is done” Mirela said quietly, managing to offer Valelldia a small smile.
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 11:39 am
Valelldia nodded sagely. "And so. It is done."
They seemed to be an almost permission for the meij- they knew this woman, and her words- they had swirled about her in the past and- if not bowed to her will- then, at least catered to its wishes in some small ways and given her feisance. Oqaia was still surprised by the meij- overcome by it- on a daily basis, and, during growths, had little say in when the meij would sweep its changes over a Fortunette. Truly, Valelldia had no more control over it- and yet... somehow, the swirling meij always gave her precedance, always waited for some sort of signal from her before transforming the child at hand.
With those words- a cacophany of white and blue light poured over the blue horse- and, when the light died... the creature there would be so much smaller. Tafari- was a darkling infant.
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Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2006 12:39 am
Mirela raised a hand to shield her eyes from the overwhelming brightness of the lights that engulfed Tafari, butterflies beating frantic wings within her stomach as she waited for the glow to subside. Finally the once shadowy forest returned to its original state, the light dissipating to reveal a sight that caused Mirela to gasp in surprise and wonder. Where once there stood as a horse was now a small child, half human half horse, yet still clearly Mirela’s treasured son.
“Tafari…?” the young gypsy managed to choke out, dropping to her knees where she stood.
As if recovering from the blinding light himself Tafari blinked several times, proceeding to twitch his ears and his hands and fingers – something else that he would have to adjust too. Hearing his name the boy turned, grinning and babbling at his mother as he trotted toward her. Walking was something that proved fairly easy for the boy, seeing as his lower limbs remained unchanged by the transformation.
Running her fingers tentatively over Tafari’s mohawked hair, elongated ears and finally down his little arms, Mirela smiled brightly at her child and embraced him. “Thankyou Valelldia” Mirela said softly, still clinging tightly to her son.
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