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He really hadn't meant to pry...


But sometime in the night, an unusual stiffness in his side broke the waters of sleep around the stallion of fire, and he came wide awake with a feeling of mild irritation.

Bump

Glancing to his left, Flame immediately identifed the persistent nagging sensation that had awoken him. A foot, lodging itself quite firmly between his elbow joint and his girth. Following the line of taunt muscle, his slight irritation lessened when he realized how deeply asleep the perpetrator was.

Killian was, for lack of a better way to describe it, sprawled completely out, one foreleg jammed in his adopted uncle's side, while the rest of him lay flat on the ground... except for his head and neck which were propped against Bonfire's flank... who (if he remembered correctly) hadn't been there when he went to sleep.

Puzzeled, he attempted to recreate events in his head, until he stopped at one very large anomaly. Princess was gone.

Half turning, he peered around the shadowy campsite, believing she must have grown uncomfortable and moved.. but his golden eyes found nothing but the familiar forms of his sleeping comrades, and the ever-awake visage of Blais.

Who, upon closer inspection, seemed to be dozing off.


Biting down the worry that was moving it's way slowly pwards from his gut, he gently extracted himself from the knot of younger soquili and made his way towards his son, who opened his eyes at his approach.

"Northwest." the painted stallion said quietly, not even waiting to hear the unspoken question.

"She seemed preoccupied." another voice added, and Flame looked down, surprised to see Tai's familiar Edelsteine wide awake. The mountain cat, for her part, stretched out and yawned in response to his scrutiny. "What? Blais asked me to help him stand watch tonight... you should thank me since it was supposed to be YOUR turn." She continued, blinking up at him owlishly. But before he could respond, Blais interrupted. "It's not a problem, just hurry and go find her, I've heard wolves in the distance, and I'm worried."

So that was how he had ended up here, standing quite uselessly in the shadows watching a lady cry, torn between going to her... and leaving her to sort herself out.. as she so often seemed to crave.

Honestly, he really had't meant to pry!

In the end, the tall stallion opted to say nothing.

Of her anger, he knew it... knew it as well as he knew where his own could come from.

Of her loneliness, that much as was apparent... he could also relate.


But really, he doubted she wanted someone to just relate too. That usually meant the pain was still yours... a singular burden that grew with time and threatened everything one built, wished for, or was given. It was an all encompassing inner turmoil that he knew all too well. Having lived it himself, and watched his son and best friend battle wth those same inner demons.


No, he wouldn't say anything... not this time.

Quietly he disentangled himself from the shadows and approached her, aware that she might strike him... and prepared for it. No matter what she did, he wouldn't leave... he couldn't.

He'd left too many others at times like these to stomach another one, running just wasn't him anymore. Not since he realized that it were times like these that made all involved stronger.

"Perhaps you should stop asking so many questions." He replied roughly, never faltering in his deliberate pace that had slowly turned into a predatory circle around her. He wasn't certain when she had become something to him, perhaps it was that time on the beach, when she had been free, and he so broken in spirit... or perhaps it was later, when he had caught her scent at the edge of the herdlands and knew she lived the free life still.

Whatever the case, whenever the moment had passed that she had stopped being an acquaintance and started to be a friend he had made the choice to help her in any time of need. That was just something that he did, a part of him that was ingrained at birth and.. as it did now, apparently delighted in causing him all amounts of strife.

Several emotions warred in her eyes, that much she had made obvious with that ridiculous parody of a glare she had shot him, and to be truthful, it made the stallion of fire sick to see her reflected so pitifully in the moonlight.

"Indeed, but perhaps it is really more important that you should stop asking questions of yourself." He continued, slowing down and coming to a stop within touching distance of her. His eyes, he knew they must be burning now, as they did when he was angry or aroused. Blais had used the color of his eyes to track him once, and for the first time, Flame hoped they were as predatory as some claimed. He wanted her to see that yes, there was honesty in the world, that not everything was grey... or a harsh black and white.

Indeed, for the first time he was done playing emotional games. The world was a myriad of colors, and he hoped she would see the option of acceptance.. rather then this constant inner battle she fought with herself.

((ooc: I'll be edittng this later I'm sure, kinda WOOOOO on those tooth pain med thingys XDDD ))

Again he moved closer, uncertain.. intellectually anyway... of why he had this strong desire to show her what he knew... what he had learned years ago in the hills. But he had too, something about her tears, her posture, and the image of her running free across the sand; all of those contrived to send him closer still.

"Few should hold that power Princess, in fact..." he paused, shuttering his golden eyes briefly... as if experiencing a particularly painful memory, before opening them again.

"The only one who should hold the power over what happens in our lives is ourselves. All of that which is outside our control is just that.. outside of our control. We cannot dictate to the sun to rise later, but we can choose for ourselves to rise with it or against it." He paused again, studying her carefully, weighing his next words.

The moon then chose a particularly fascinating moment to take to the shade, cloaking them in near absolute darkness. Drawing breath, he continued, grateful for the reprieve of her painful image. "And we cannot dictate to others how to live, only choose to coexist with them.. finding our own personal happiness in ourselves. YOU choose whether to remain alone after being deserted, YOU choose whether to abandon a herd, and YOU choose to live with the decisions you have made." Idly, in the back of his mind, he wondered if he had gone too far, whether she would misinterpret his words... or worse.. see that to an extent he spoke of his old self... the one who hadn't known what he knew now.

"Life is a gift Princess, but not just a gift of opportunity. It is a gift of choice, and free will, not a promise of cosmic fair play."