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 Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:05 pm
Helaku hated to admit it, but he was lost. Lost on his way to see his own mother, no less.
After a little while of secluding himself, allowing himself to heal from his run-in with the huge black-feathered mutant, Helaku finally felt up to the trek to his mother's home. Only...the longer he wandered, the less certain he felt that he remembered exactly where it was. Even with Mai casting back and forth with her keen nose, Helaku seemed to be completely 'off the scent.'
It was shameful, really. What son should 'lose' his own parent?
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Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:29 pm
Delphia had been living in seclusion. It had ended up being the best solution for her. She'd run into a few soquili, in the time she'd been here, and had emerged to meet with new family members, when the invitation had been extended. But nothing like unto any of that had happened in a long time.
Living near humans had been too painful, so she had retreated far from their reach, deep into the mountains. She lived in a natural cave from which a stream flowed. It later became a great river, after many cascades down into the inhabited lands. A tiny valley lay before her home's entrance, reached only by a hidden pathway. It had been months since she had ventured down that treacherous trail. If she ever did manage to get down the path, she would never get back up again. Her bones were just too old and joints too creaky.
Today was one of the last warm days of fall, before the true chill would set in. The raccoon mare was walking placidly along beside the stream as it wound through her valley before plunging over a cliff. She was content here, solitary but for the birds of prety and the local animal life. Very little disturbed her long-sought calm.
Jaden wasn't quite as old as Delphia, and still loved to stretch his wings by soaring over the soquili lands. He liked to pester the high-and-mighty from above, dropping pebbles or pinecones on them and shattering their false dignity. If anything, he was even more mischevious in his crochety old age, cawing coarse laughter down on the silly ponies.
Secretly he also played games with the colts and fillies. They never told, because they loved keeping secrets at that age. But many a foal had been entertained for an afternoon by silly games and antics of the old hawk. Today was a day when he soared over the countryside, searching for some bored young thing to please.
It was a foal of an entirely different sort that caught his attention though. Why... was that... it was! With a cry of joy and welcome that surprised even him, he dove from on high straight for the grey form of Helaku.
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Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:36 pm
Mai's growl preceded the sharp cry of a hawk by mere moments, and Helaku barely had time to look up before he was scrambling to get out of Jaden's way. Blood pumping, it took him a moment to recognize the hawk, but when he did a wide smile spread across his face. "Jaden, you coot! Don't you know better than to drop in on unsuspecting guests? Where's mother?" For where Jaden was, so was Delphia to his mind. He'd never really known the two to be apart.
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:39 pm
The black hawk cackled harsh laughter as he settled himself on a nearby branch. "Startled you did I, sonny?" He played up being old so well, he even mimicked the sort of voice an aged human male would use. "Bit jumpy if you ask me. Should always expect the unexpected." Jaden enjoyed being bizarre.
He sidled sideways on the branch, bobbing his head animatedly, feathers fluffed around his neck. His wicked claws gripped the branch, biting into bark. Stopping suddenly on one foot, he leaned way over and peered at the wolf with one eye. "I startled you too, didn't I, my pretty?" He clacked his beak at the brown creature before straightening and solemnly answering Helaku's question.
"Your mother has been in seclusion a long while. She has had no visitors but the wild things, and no distress save when she's ventured forth briefly and seen the pains others can inflict on their loved ones." It was a very serious answer, and probably the longest spiel Jaden had spoken in a long while. He gazed steadily at his mistress' son, his black eyes glittering. "She needs a home," he added softly.
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:54 pm
"Ah, yes, you did. I forgot your little habit of divebombing others," he said, reaching up to tug on the branch lightly while Mai gave a half-hearted growl. Jaden's reply made him pause, however. Seen the pain others can inflict on their loved ones... A soft chill ran down Helaku's spine. Could it be that Delphia already knew? "How much does she know, Jaden? Can you take me to her?" he asked, just as softly.
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:20 pm
Jaden playfully feinted at the stallion's muzzle with his wicked beak, though he was clearly careful to inflict no pain. He cocked his head this way and then that at Helaku's first question. The second was easy, and in the bird's mind, was a given. Why else would the colt have inquired about her, if not to see her? But that first question...
"Your mother is a wise one, sonny," he replied solemnly. "She knows much, but does not always wish to know what she does." Cryptic again, much like the ravens he resembled. "But does she know what you want to know she knows? I don't know." He cackled a laugh and launched himself off the branch, his heavy wings flapping noisily.
"Follow Jaden," he cawed at them as he glided towards the mountain. "Jaden knows!" Of course he meant he knew the way. But all this talk of knowing or not knowing had scrambled his brain just a little. He was an old bird, after all, and should be allowed his foibles. Or so Delphia would say.
In this way, the hawk led them to the steep, narrow trail, and up, up, up it to the tiny hidden valley that was Delphia's sanctuary.
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:31 pm
Helaku jerked his head back and snorted at the old hawk, chuckling at his antics. He'd forgotten how much fun Jaden could be as well, it seemed! But play was cut short, as Jaden launched into a cryptic spiel. Furrowing his brows, Helaku tried to follow the hawk's speech with no success. It seemed he'd have to get his answers from Delphia after all... With Mai ghosting along at his heels, he carefully picked his way up the trail as he followed the hawk. At the mouth of the valley, he paused. "Mother?"
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 9:19 am
The grey mare had been sunning herself at the far end of the meadow in the midst of her valley. Through the screen of trees that shielded her from the pass, she heard a voice call. Ears pricked and eyes opened, listening, watching. That hadn't really sounded like Jaden, but the bird had been known to pull tricks on her.
Uncertainly, she rose painfully to her hooves. Rising these days was so hard, and left her short of breath. Quietly she stood for several moments, letting her body recuperate. She heard nothing else, so she called out herself. "Helaku? Jaden?" Cautiously she began to move across the grassy span. She had always loved the feel of tall grass brushing against her legs, and now was no different, though the enjoyment was set aside in favor of discovering what was going on, and who was here in her valley with her.
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:39 pm
At the sound of his mother's voice, Helaku broke into a run straight for the trees. Launching into them, he dodged and wove, even crashing through branches and leaping fallen logs. By the time he reached the meadow, he was breathing heavily, and his formerly cracked ribs twinged a little. Slowing to a trot, he nudged Delphia affectionately. "Mother..."
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Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:13 am
She waited, wide-eyed, as it sounded as if a bear were charging her through the forest's foliage. But when the form of her son broke through the forest edge and slowed to meet her, she broke into a sunny smile. It had been so long, and how he had grown! Oh, he would probably not think so, since it hadn't been so very long to his mind. He'd probably be the first to protest that he already was grown, and couldn't grow anymore.
But of course, as a mother, she didn't just mean physically. She could tell immediately that he had grown inwardly. She welcomed his nuzzle with a soft nicker of her own, reaching her muzzle to touch him lovingly.
"My son! It is wonderful to see you. What brings you so far from home?" She stepped back to regard him again, to take in that mounting maturity she'd sensed in him. "Is something wrong?" Mothers know. Mothers always knew. She subsided and waited quietly, giving him a chance to share with her his woes, for woes they clearly were.
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Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:06 pm
Helaku opened his mouth to greet her further, but the words died a-borning on his lips at her question. He was quiet for a long moment before he took a deep breath, letting it all out in a rush. "Olathe's gone. She left. With reason, in her eyes..." He closed his own dark gold eyes for a moment. "I was absent more than I should have been, neglectful. And I thought little of Akila meeting a stallion. She'd met several others...but she became enamored of this one, an older stallion. Olathe did not approve." He looked back at his dam. "It did not end with Olathe's departure. Akila ran away afterward...even though I tried to tell her it was not her fault."
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 6:11 pm
Delphia listened with growing concern as her son unburdened his heart of its trouble. And trouble indeed it was. No wonder he looked so... well, the word that came to mind was haggard, though that seemed a little strong. She suspected he had been distressed to that point, but he seemed in control of himself now. But there were other concerns.
"Are you saying Akila blames herself?" The raccoon mare frowned. She had been gone too long. Her little granddaughter needed her influence, but instead she had cloistered herself up here, out of reach and out of touch. It was time that changed. "Do you know where she has gone?" she inquired resolutely. She had unconciously drawn herself up and squared her shoulders, shedding the appearance of an old and weary mare. Oh, she still appeared to be of great age, but she no longer looked so tired, so worn. Her family needed her, and she was determined to be there for them.
"And have you told your father yet?" Sora would want to know too.
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Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 4:21 pm
Helaku sighed, head hanging. "Yes...I suspect that is so. I wasn't able to convince her that it wasn't her fault..." He shook his head. "I don't know...maybe the mountains? And I haven't seen him for longer than since the last time I saw you." Sometimes Helaku wondered if Sora knew he was a grandsire. He hoped so.
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