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 Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:17 pm
"Well, Killy..." Moving closer to his son, Safi smiled and snugged him with a wing, noting wryly the difference between his own teal and sand colored wings besides his son's moonstone patterning. "Have you ever thought about how different your sister looks from you, Kileyo, or from me, for that matter? Or about how she calls your mother 'Fortune' instead of 'mother'?"
Complicated question, aye, but questions that needed to be answered. "I do love your mother, but in a friendly way, Kileyo. Mates love each other romantically, but neither your mother or I care for each other in that way. However, we ARE good friends, which is why when she found an abandoned basket out alone in the woods...she asked if I'd be willing to help her raise it, to adopt it and raise it as our own child. And I, of course, said yes."
Smiling, he stopped walking, looking down and giving his son a direct look. "Kileyo, you are my son; you and your sister are as much my own children as if I'd conceived you myself. However...I didn't."
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:21 pm
"...I see." He blinked and thought about what his father told him quietly. They weren't mates, and he was adopted? And so was Sai? The little colt frowned and then stopped walking after a moment.
"I'm glad you guys love me...But why was I abandoned? Did my real mum and dad not want me?" That much he couldn't quite wrap his mind around. Why would parents abandon their kid unless the kid had done something? Then again, how could he have done something as a basket?
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:29 pm
Sighing, Safi could only answer the last question with a shrug. "Honestly, Killy, I wish I knew. With both you and your sister it was a case of a lone basket, just sitting on its own in the woods. Would there have been anyone about to ask, things might have worked out differently, but as is..."
Trailing off, he sighed and looked upwards. "One can never be sure what happens behind the scenes. Peaceful as the world can seem, there are dangers lurking around every corner, dangers that can even take down adults. That's why we're always so big on you telling us what you're up to and not running off on your own!" Chuckling, he gave Kileyo a wink, hoping that the lesson would be taken to heart. It was always a stressful moment when one realized that their kids were gone!
"For one reason or another, I haven't had a chance to have kids of my own, so when presented with a child...or rather, two children, that for some reason or another didn't have someone looking out for them, I was more than willing to step up to the challenge. I wish I could tell you more about your biological parents, Killy...but I have the feeling that if I COULD, we wouldn't be having this conversation."
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:31 pm
Kileyo went up to his father and nosed at him lightly, "Well, I'm glad that you n mum are my parents...I don't think I would like my bio..bio...logeeecall," he stumbled over the large word, "parents much if they left me in the woods alone anyways."
That was the right way to look at it, wasn't it? Finding the good in it. "I love you n mom, even if she is....weird."
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:36 pm
Returning the nuzzle, Safi could only smile in return. "I'm glad too, kiddo; and even if you aren't my son in the genetic sense of the word, you are certainly my son in the most real sense. Not to mention your mother's, especially when it comes to the two left feet."
Laughing, he gestured ahead of them to the plateau, their target all along. "Now then, shall we see if those two left feet carry into flight, or hope that you've inherited your old man's aerial prowess?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:37 pm
"Hey! I don't have two left feet!" He looked down at his feet to study them and ended up tumbling as he did. He certainly didn't have the best sense of balance and he blinked up at Safi.
"Nope, a left 'n' a right! But how do I fly, huh? Do I just flap my wings?" He forced himself onto his feet again and began flapping them frantically.
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:45 pm
Grinning, Safi looked down at Kileyo's feet, noting the two left feet...and the two right feet opposite them. Apparently the hind feet hadn't registered with Kileyo, or something....
Still, they were here to discuss wings, not feet! At Kileyo's 'attempt' at such, he found himself chuckling yet again. Flapping was all well and good...in the right measure!
Moving so that he was facing his son, he shook his head at him, spreading his own wings for demonstration. "Flapping is good and important, Killy, but you need to work on force. See how I flap my wings thusly?" Holding them spread at their fullest extension, Safi flapped them down and backward with a powerful beat, the one motion enough to lift him slightly aloft before he settled back down. "See? It's not how much you flap, it's simply HOW you flap. Now you try."
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:48 pm
"Oh...OK!" It made sense...sort of. So the little foal spread his smaller wings and tried to emulate Safi's movement. All he managed to do was kick up a small dust storm and frowned.
"How come it didn't work?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:52 pm
Ah, the impatience of youth. "Because you have never done this before and your wings are small and somewhat weak. Remember when you were learning to walk? You couldn't do that right away, either, yet now you can without falling over...mostly. You just need to pracitce. So, let us try again. Spread your wings, and FLAP."
And then Safi flapped again, harder this time so that he rose about six inches up before settling back to the ground. "Think of it as pushing the air under you with your wings."
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:53 pm
Once more the colt's wings were spread and flapped in the hardest motion he could and still he didn't move. Frustrated, the young foal gave a hiss of displeasure and flapped again.
And again. And again. And a--Oh! THAT worked! He felt himself lift slightly off the ground before floating back down.
"I DID IT!"
...Sort of.
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:57 pm
Watching carefully so that he could intervene quickly in case of mishap, Safi was able to see the foal's hooves lift slightly off the ground as a result of one mighty flap; that little lift was enough to make his face break into a wide smile.
"You see? All you have to do is practice, and before long you'll be forcing me to chase you across the sky as well as the ground! Now, let's try again; see if you can lift yourself up like that five times in a row."
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 10:04 pm
"I'm a good boy though!" Right. Good boy. Kileyo laughed and started to try and flap his wings again using the same method. The first time he lifted, the second time a little higher. The third time he got ahead of himself and didn't lift at all.
"Awww...Man, so close!" He tried again and managed to lift an inch or two off the ground before falling back to earth with a little thud.
"DAD DID YOU SEE?!"
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 10:10 pm
"Yeah, good a giving me heart attacks!" Laughing, Safi stepped back to watch the attempts, dutifully applauding or wincing as the situation merited. The last one, though, when he was visibly off the ground, brought a little whoop from Safi.
"Wow, that was a good one, Killy! Now, just keep doing that; until you can lift up five times in a row, we're not gonna move on. Better to move it slow safely than to break legs, right?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 10:12 pm
Wouldn't that be horrible? Colts with broken legs. Ouch! Kileyo nodded his head and looked fiercely determined to get five successful lifts in the air in a row.
Fifty tries later and he finally succeeded, whooping and hollering and asking Safi if he saw (even though he knew that he did) because he wanted more praise and attention.
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 10:20 pm
The whole time Kileyo had been trying, Safi had been cheering, wincing, encouraging, and otherwise vocalizing the appropriate comments at the right time. Keeping careful count, he was laughing by the time Kileyo had managed his fifth attempt, especially at the enthusiasm.
"Yes, I saw; you really think I'd be looking away at such an exciting moment? Obviously you're ready to try something a little bit harder, hrm?"
Without really waiting for an answer, Safi once again spread his wings. "Ok, so this time we're going to do the same thing times two. When you're off the ground, flap again to lift higher."
With that, he flapped his wings once, lifting a few inches off the ground, then right away flapped again. Lifting even higher into the air, he then settled back down to the ground. "Now you."
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