|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 6:09 pm
 Tregaran was worried about Esta. As the weather grew colder and the trees shed their leaves, she seemed to become more and more depressed. She would only speak when spoken to, and he could tell that her mind wasn't on the conversation. She hardly responded to his overtures and spent a lot of time wandering the forest by herself.
The stallion was relieved when he was finally able to track her down next to what had been a shaded pond during the summer and was now open to the sky. Esta's white scales were brilliant in the cold sunlight, and contrasted greatly with the autumnal landscape around her.
"Esta!" he hailed her. "I've been looking all over for you!"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 6:15 pm
 Esta had been wandering through the forest aimlessly for days. Weeks? She couldn't tell anymore as one day flowed into another, and the only change would be that the trees had fewer and fewer leaves upon them. Soon it would be winter and the landscape would match the emptiness in her soul. Yes, her heart was warmed whenever she thought about Tregaran, but the heart could only do so much.
Still, when she heard that beloved voice calling her name, she couldn't help smiling and turning to watch the other usdia come galloping up, hooves carelessly crunching the fallen leaves on the forest floor. He looked to be in his element, enjoying the air almost cold enough to frost his breath, panting only a little from the exertion and not yet sweating thanks to the cool air.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 6:19 pm
Tregaran's thoughts were on Esta's beauty and his love for her when she turned to smile at him. His heart melted a little at the beauty of that expression before he noticed the slight bulge of her belly. His smile dropped into a gape as he could do nothing but stare.
"Esta..." He couldn't even frame the rest of the thought into a sentence, he could only stare, transfixed by the miracle shown by her body.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 6:21 pm
The white mare was confused as Tregaran stopped and stared. He said her name, but it trailed off into silence. Esta whipped her head around to look behind her, but could see nothing that would evoke such a reaction in the stallion.
"Tregaran?" she offered hesitantly. "Is...something wrong?" His strange reaction was starting to scare and worry her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 6:27 pm
"No, no, nothing's wrong!" Tregaran reassured her hastily. He had to remember that Esta was prone to interpret everything towards the negative. "In fact, things may be more right between us than they have ever been," he continued, moving up next to the white mare and nuzzling her lovingly.
He smiled at her, a glint in her eye revealing the humorous intent of his words. "Except, of course, for the baskets soon to come between us." The stallion twitched his whiskers mischeviously and nodded towards the mare's belly, only beginning to show her pregnancy. "Or did you think that you could divert my attention away with your feminine charms?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 6:36 pm
Esta frowned as Tregaran came up to her, still talking in riddles. She nuzzled him back, of course, taking reassurance from his touch, but she still had no idea what he was talking about.
...until he mentioned baskets. Esta's green eyes widened in surprised and she craned her neck down to verify for herself. Sure enough, there was a bulge in the proper place that hadn't been there...hadn't been there the last time she looked.
She looked up again hastily as Tregaran made a joke. The mare could only stare at him for a moment before she burst into giggles. Not just because of his joke, though it wasn't the worst one he'd made, but from the revelation of the new life forming within her. She...was pregnant. Her children were not formed out of desperation but of love. Suddenly the threat of the Skinwalker seemed much farther away, a think of darkness and shadows that had no place on this sunlit day. And it was silly of her to brood on something in the unknown depths of the future when she had a life here and now with Tregaran, and soon to be with their children as well.
A dazzling smile crossed Esta's face. "I'm pregnant," she whispered in wonder. "We're going to have foals!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 6:44 pm
There were few things as wonderful in his life as watching the realization of their upcoming baskets crossed Esta's face. But her smile as she uttered the words aloud was even more so, and Tregaran thought that at that moment she outsone the sun. He stopped joking around and smiled back.
"Yes. We're going to have foals. Together." He nuzzled the scales of Esta's neck and sighed in contentment, secure in the knowledge that her dark mood had been averted by this joy.
For now.
He knew that Esta's mind tended towards dark places and that happy times like this could be only temporary for her. Still, it was his self-appointed duty to see that the happy times were many and long-lasting. And he knew that these baskets could only help but keep the mare focused on the present, not the past or the future.
Life was good. For now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
