[PRP] Is...is it really you? (Alyna & Karma)

[Katjive]

Alyna stood in the meadows of her homeland, feeling the breeze blow through her rainbow-tipped mane. It was good to be home, at last. Nothing had changed, everything was exactly as she remembered it. It was almost as if she could go on living just as she had done before. But she knew it would never be that simple. She wasn't the same, even if everything else was.

Alyna felt so much older now. She had a daughter now, which meant her mother was a grandmother (much to her delight and dismay), and life on the road had stripped her of her naivety. She sighed softly, remembering the pain and heartache she had endured. She had never meant for things to get as out of hand as they had. Yet...Ocala was her pride and joy, and good had blossomed from the bad. Alyna smiled as she thought of her beautiful daughter. She knew that it had all been worth it, even if she hadn't managed to run in to him.

Her memories flew even farther back, to happier days of exploration and adventure...and to a young Wind who dared her to fly, even though she was without wings. A smile spread on her face as she remembered her childhood friend. She had hoped to find him again on her travels...but it seemed the fates had decided that was not meant to be.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

The sun was warm upon Karma's back as he flew. The lands of his parents and his childhood stretched out beneath him. It is time for me to return for a time. His children with the angeni Articuno had long since grown. One even seemed to be courting a lady of his own. That was good. Life had to be lived, after all. That was something that he hadn't understood until he had children of his own.

Somehow, Karma felt as if he had flown through most of his life until this point. He had not let himself get grounded, get attached to the forces and people around him. There had been a few that had managed to grow close to him... but most he had not allowed that much. It was his children that had brought him down to the earth beneath him, that had taught him to open his eyes to the feelings of those around him... and himself.

Almost without noticing he had begun to descend. His wings flared outwards to bank and break his speed. Soon the grass below him began to grow more definition and then it was brushing the tips of his hooves. With one last backwards wing beat he landed. Something as subtle as the wind that plucked at his braids was prickling at his memory. Something had happened in this place, or near it. Something... or someone...

He had a brief and vivid flash of a filly, brown spots dancing before his eyes.

That's right. This is where he had met her... his one real childhood friend, even though he had only met her once.

Strange that such a memory would persist so long...  

[Katjive]

Alyna's quiet thoughts were interrupted by the soft sound of wing beats. She wondered who was passing by, as she knew that hardly any with wings lived around these parts. A sudden idea raced through her mind. Could it be...? No, it was impossible. He was out traveling, Mel had said so. Even still, her heart was hopeful. She turned, walking fast towards the sound of wings. She poked her head around a cluster of trees...

And saw someone who looked very much like an old friend of hers. A big, excited grin flashed on her face. But wait...what if it wasn't him? What if it was merely another one of his siblings? Perhaps it was Mel...but Mel didn't have wings! She shook her head, confusion clouding her thoughts. If it was really him, then...she hadn't thought about what she would do if she ever found him.

Regardless, she couldn't just stand there. Gathering her courage, she stepped out from behind the trees. "Karma? Is that you?" She asked, a soft smile on her face.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

The sound of a voice turned Karma's head and broke him from his thoughts. It was something so familiar...

His dark blue eyes met her bright blue ones. Pale hair tipped with color framed a face spotted with brown. In that moment, his mind was uncomprehending. Was this a memory? Could it be possible that he was reliving his past after visiting the place where it had occurred?

"Alyna." The word came softly to his lips. The hesitation that followed was not brought about through uncertainty. It was more of a stillness, the stillness that had possessed him since he was a child. "It... it is me." Or was it? It was his name that she had spoken but he was not as he had been then.... but neither was she.

A vision wouldn't need to ask such a question. She... had to be real. Karma smiled quietly, an expression that he had only recently learned. "It has been a long time."  

[Katjive]

As his eyes met hers, her breath caught in her throat. What if he didn't recognize her? Her fears were quickly put to ease as he spoke her name, his voice much deeper than it had been, but it still carried the familiar inflections of tone she had come to associate with Karma.

Alyna laughed, an excited laugh that echoed the high-pitched giggles that had been hers in younger days. It was him! "It has been a while.," she said, happiness shining in her eyes. She walked over to him, a big smile on her face. She knew he was different, but she also knew that part of him was still the same Karma she had known as a foal. After all, he still had that curious silence, that contemplative way of thinking of things that had so intrigued her.

She grinned, noticing his smile. Yes, he certainly had changed.

"So, what have you been up to since I saw you last?" She asked, a curious expression on her face.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Such a question Alyna had asked him and with so many answers. Karma tilted his head in thought, almost unsure how to answer. It was such a question and his mind was still dancing over the explanations as to why this meeting had occurred in the first place. His family had strong belief in fate. Could it have been fate that had guided her hooves to this place and his wings? If not, what other explanation could there possibly be for such an unlikely meeting? But if it was fate, what was the reason that fate had brought them together now instead of so much earlier?

His smile took on the characteristics of apology. "I'm sorry if I seem distracted. I am still wondering what the forces are that brought us here." He looked her over, the familiar figure that he had not known well enough in the first place to be familiar with.

"As to what I've been doing... that is a large question with a large answer, but some of it may be shortened. I've traveled. I met an angeni... and had children with her. I've seen my children grow old enough to leave and leave they have. Now I return home." There was something he was leaving out, something that was nagging at the back of his mind. "I return home and... and meet you, it would seem." The scenes from his life faded and grew in his mind's eye. Some sequence of events had led him to be here on this day. If this was fate, it was something that was set in motion long long time ago.  

[Katjive]

The forces that brought them there? Alyna blinked, pondering that statement. She was not much of a believer in fate, but...even she had to admit that this was odd, their meeting after such a lengthy time apart. Perhaps this was fate, and there were forces at work. She smiled reassuringly at him. "If this is the work of fate, then I am grateful."

Alyna, though aware that she had only met Karma once before, wasn't concerned with her familiarity with him. She merely accepted it, not questioning the easy way she was able to relax around him.

"I remember you saying that you wanted to travel," Alyna said softly, "I've traveled myself...and like you, I also have had children." She sighed, her voice sad. "And also, like you," she said, a smile creeping back into her face, "I have returned home."

"Although...I must admit, I knew that you had children. I met your son, Nirvana, on my travels. He was very much like you." She wondered if he knew the full extent of her knowledge of his family. After all, she had met Mel and Haya as well.

She thought for a moment, one particular memory standing out in her mind. "Do you remember playing here when we were little? You said something that I never forgot." She looked up into his blue eyes, several shades darker than her own. "You said that I could travel, even without wings. Turns out you were right."

She looked at Karma again, smiling shyly. He was still a myriad of color, and she was still fascinated by his vibrancy. She suppressed a chuckle as she realized that some things never change.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

The parallels between them were clear. A shared meeting as foals and roughly the same path since then. Travel. Children. Return. Still having never picked up the finer details of discerning the emotions of others, Karma couldn't quite tell how Alyna felt about all this. Himself, he was content with his life. It had happened the way it did and couldn't have possibly happened otherwise. Though what he had shared with the angeni Articuno wasn't love in the romantic sense it was certainly a connection he did not begrudge, even after its ending.

The knowledge that she had met Nirvana was new to him as well. Nirvana had kept that a secret apparently, that or just hadn't thought it important enough to tell him. Whether he knew about it or not, however, it was another place that his and Alyna's lives had intersected. Does that make this the third time? Or have there been more connections than that?

Her last words recalled him to the soft memory of that shared day together. "I do remember," he said softly. "And... I'm glad that you were able to find your path." It was a saying that his mother had often told him and that he had sometimes found occasion to tell his own two children. Finding your path in life was one of the most important things in living, or so he had been taught.

He paused uncertainly after Alyna's chuckle and blinked a little, the smallest amount of confusion touching his features. "Is there something funny? I don't understand..." Teaching himself to say that simple phrase, 'I don't understand' was yet another of his bridges between himself and others. He still might not understand their motivations all the time... but now he was making the effort to try.  

[Katjive]

Alyna herself was vaguely aware of the similarities of their lives. She felt a great deal of regret about her past, wishing that her naivety had not led her to make such a mess of things, although she would never regret her two beautiful children. She wondered how he felt about it all, but she figured it didn't really matter in the long run. After all, what had happened couldn't be changed. And why should either of them want to change it? Children were precious, lovable, and a joy. They were lucky to have been parents.

Alyna smiled at his words. "Thank you..." She looked up into his eyes. "You know," she said, her voice soft, "I was hoping to run into you on my travels."

She grinned impishly at his question, a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. "Oh, well it's not funny exactly. I was just thinking about how some things never change...and that while you look very different than you did when we were foals, you still look the same in some ways."

He intrigued her, that was certain. He was different somehow, still aloof and distant, but he seemed to be trying to connect somehow.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Some things never change. Karma was still thinking about her first comment when she made her second. Some things never change. He repeated the phrase in his mind and thought it over. It had a beautiful simplicity... a connection to the overall themes of their lives.

"I've been hoping to meet you again as well." He said the reply to her almost automatically, distracted by his internal ponderings. It was after he said it that he paused again. The feeling of that statement didn't convey what he felt. "No... that's not correct. I have looked favorably upon a potential future meeting but I... I have felt that we were going to meet again."

Felt. That seemed like a more natural expression of his thoughts. He had felt that this thread of their life would come together once more. His face lit up with a peaceful serenity at that realization. A slight breeze plucked at his braids and swung them against his neck, green on blue. His were the soft colors of the serenity that he felt.

"Fate has worked to guide us here, Alyna."  

[Katjive]

"Fate?" Alyna blushed then, a deep crimson. "For what purpose, do you think Fate's brought us together for, then?" She asked, her voice soft. "I think it's amazing that our lives are such parallels, but...fate...wow."

She didn't really know how she felt about all this. On one hand, she was thrilled that Karma felt that they would meet again. It made her think that maybe she wasn't completely insane for fervently believing she would find him again one day, even though she had met him once when she was a foal.

On the other...she had never really credited Fate with the course of her life. And if Fate had brought them together, then what did it want? Why did it bring them together? To just see each other again? Or maybe...maybe something more. Maybe she was to love this blue stallion. A smile crept on her face. Maybe she could do that. After all, she remembered him quite fondly...but only time would tell for sure what was meant to be.

"You know...I suppose I'm grateful, then...to Fate. For bringing us back together. I've rather missed you...and it is good to see you again."  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

The soft smile had returned to Karma's face. It was beautiful, this meeting that Fate had wrought. It was as beautiful as the winter sky. It was as beautiful as she.

As beautiful as she? He ran the thought through his head a second time before accepting it. Yes, Alyna had grown to be a beautiful mare. That much was undeniable. She did not have the ethereal grace and beauty of the angeni that had born Karma's children, but she had a beauty of her own. It was something more ephemeral. Something more fleeting. Something like the color of leaves in the autumn... impermanent and taking beauty even from that impermanence. It was a distracting train of thought.

"Tell me," he cut through his own thoughts. "Tell me of your children and your mate." He was curious to know of this part of her life. It was strange to think that he had last seen her as a foal and now she had foals of her own. Or perhaps they were adults, as his children were. It had been some time, after all.  

[Katjive]

A soft, motherly look graced Alyna's face as her thoughts turned towards her children. "My children are rambunctious and spunky. They brighten my life, but...they have long since left on their own adventures. As far as my mate...we aren't together anymore." She sighed softly, her memories turning towards more unpleasant matters. "I had been traveling, and we just sort of met one day. I found out a few weeks later that I was pregnant, so I had to return to him to let him know. We had never intended to stay together, so after the foals were born, he took one, I took the other, and we parted ways."

She smiled up at Karma, looking into his handsome dark blue eyes. "But don't think I'm sad about it or anything. Life just has a funny way of working things out sometimes."

Alyna tossed her curly tresses out of her eyes. She couldn't tell if she was having difficulty focusing on her story because of her unruly hair, or if it was because of Karma's presence. He was simply, stunningly handsome. A slight blush graced her features. "Uh...so, what about your children and your mate?" She asked, trying to focus on things that wouldn't make her blush.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Karma found it easy to imagine Alyna having vivacious children. It seemed that they had taken after their mother. That was good. The world would benefit from more soquili like her being in it. He mentally reviewed through the various young strangers he had met but didn't recall any bearing a particular resemblance to her. It would seem that she had many encounters with his family but that the opposite had not occurred.

"My children," he began thoughtfully. "They are..." What small string of words could he use to describe such beautifully intricate creatures? Words would not do them justice yet Karma made the attempt. "They are sometimes like myself, sometimes like their mother, and sometimes entirely their own. I know no other way to describe them."

His eyes caught for a moment on Alyna's hair. It was nothing like the shimmering mane that Articuno had possessed. Her hair, and the hair of his offspring, seemed to float effortlessly around her. It was ethereal in it's beauty. Alyna's hair was something far more tangible, far more earthy. It wound and twined about her face and itself like the threads of their own lives wound about each other. Beautiful.

"Articuno and I," he said, using her name instead of the term 'mate.' He did not know that calling her that would be accurate, since it had never been a permanent arrangement. "We were meant to meet but not meant to linger long in each others lives. We have since parted ways, though she is still a precious memory in my mind... As was my meeting with you."  

[Katjive]

"They sound so wonderful..." Alyna said, smiling. It was only fitting that Karma would have splendid children. She knew this for a fact as well, as her meeting with Nirvana displayed how well-behaved Karma's children were, although she didn't know if he had any others.

"Your...your meeting with me was precious to you?" She asked, vulnerability in her voice. It was an incredulous thought, that he would cherish a meeting of foals, of fun and frolic that lasted but a mere few hours. She looked up at him, her eyes taking on a doe-like quality. For once, she genuinely cared what someone else thought of her. Usually, her bubbly self didn't allow for such insecure feelings. She hadn't thought once about what any of the others thought of her. She wanted them to like her, of course, but this...this was something deeper.