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 Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 8:35 am
 The stallion stood motionless, waiting for the torrent to end. Words reigned down like fire, his own turned to ash by the fervor of the other's angst.
He didn't know how long they had stood like this... two brothers, facing each other in the dim light. Crimson and pewter-blue eyes glimmering in the gloom- with tears?
Why had his brother had chosen to become so attached to that twisted mare? She wasn't good for him. She wasn't... she wasn't...
But then, had he any right to proclaim what was right and wrong for his older brother?
... yet why, if he had no right, would the elder come to the younger for advice? Why would the elder come to the younger to raise his young? To watch them grow, while he sought to free their mother of her shame?
... a slight frown tugged at the corners of his lips as he peered speculatively at Kaen, who rambled still about his ceaseless love. Kazan listened with half his attention fixed elsewhere; he was all too familiar with the all-consuming emotions his brother dealt with now.
Crimson gaze flickered to the form of beloved Sadiki.
... all too familiar.
Just around the bend, a son pranced alongside his pregnant sister.
Kaelas smiled, urging her along. He had to remain calm, steady, focused- lest she startle and flee back to her love.
After all... despite his best efforts, Zoe was still nervous about revealing he 'state' to their parents.
Not that she should be. Even if it was an unwanted pregnancy (which he had been assured it wasn't- an unexpected but not unwelcome surprise only) the lifemates would have welcomed their eldest daughter back with open arms.
After all, even when their Uncle had arrived unexpectedly, while their mother still recovered from her trying pregnancy, with a strange mare in tow laden with his brood... they had welcomed him.
They would welcome her.
"Come along, Zoe... we're almost there now." He nudged her gently, smiling in encouragement.
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Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 8:39 am
Yeah, yeah. I'm going.
Zoe stifled a groan, carefully carrying her weight so as to distribute it evenly across all four hooves.
It was hard. It was hard to keep up with her fit brother, try as he might to match his pace to her own. Even at a snail's crawl, she would feel the (joyful?) burden she carried within her womb. They had even started to kick, seeming to show their displeasure at being cooped up for so long.
... Joy.
Right.
She stared fixedly at her goal- barely visible around the bend, the familial cave lay shrouded by the thick forest canopy.
Home.
She waddled a little faster, an answering smile forming on her face as she met her brother's eyes.
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Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:23 am
Kaen paused, his words coming to a stumbling halt. "I just... I just don't know what to do anymore." With a hearty sigh, his gaze downcast, brows furrowed, he shook his head in dismay.
He peered at his brother hopefully, waiting breathlessly for some word of advice.
Yes, he was the elder. But sometimes, he felt like Kazan was more mature than he. More philosophical. More worldly. The better son.
After all, Kazan had a loving lifemate, a loving family, a splendid home.
And he...? He had children who looked upon their own mother with disdain. Nieces and nephews who thought he was a fool. A brother whom we clung to like a life-raft amidst the tumultuous chaos that was Evelyn.
Evelyn... he couldn't begin to understand her. From the moment she had first looked upon him with those mournful lavender eyes, he was lost. He had given her what she wanted- children- and more! And yet... and yet...
... if she had everything she desired, why did she look so sad?
"I just don't know what to do anymore..."
The mare lingered at the entrance to the cave, gazing mournfully at the two brothers.
It was not her place to interfere, for all that her beloved's brother was in such pain. She would support them, love them, care for them... as she had her children, and his. But she wold not presume to know the best course for their lives when she couldn't even determine her own.
Kazan was her everything. Without him, she... she wouldn't have meaning. Purpose. She'd just be...
Memories of a stilted surf crashing about her, gazing into the distance, wasting away into nothingness... only to be rescued by the very colt she had once wrenched from the cold embrace of the sea.
Perhaps that was why she couldn't cast Evelyn out. She reminded her of herself... at the worst point in her life.
She had recovered; Kazan had seen to that. Would Evelyn? Would Kaen?
He had tried everything he could think of, to see her smile, to see her laugh.
He tried to speak with her, to converse, to communicate in any way... and she just stared at him with those cold, dead eyes.
He had promised his eternal devotion... she had rolled over and gone to sleep.
He had proclaimed his love... she had looked away, a silent tear trickling down her cheek.
He had done everything, and more. Nothing worked.
She remained as distant as ever. She turned inwards, lost in her own little world, perhaps remembering a time when she had someone to love... But then that was it, wasn't it?
Evelyn had confessed her plight to Sadiki one night, shortly after giving birth. And Sadiki had confided in Kazan, uncertain of the best path... who had in turn professed Evelyn's troubles to his brother, so hopelessly devoted to a wraith.
... that stallion.
That stallion whom she had loved so thoroughly that, in her madness- wrought of that draconic mare's abuse- she actually followed that time-old saying... If you love them, let them go.
But she hadn't simply released the love of her life. Oh, no. She had chased him out, banished him from her presence by flaunting her swollen belly, laden with another stallion's brood... his brood. His foals. His children.
She had broken that stallion's heart with... him. Kaen.
She had used him, and now didn't even have the strength to cast him aside.
Kaen smiled grimly.
No... Evelyn chased off the stallions that meant the most to her. And he?
He was nothing at all.
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Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:37 am
Kazan blinked slowly, trying to clear his thoughts after the sudden avalanche had ceased. Had Kaen worn himself out, after that cascade of overwhelming verbiage?
Not that it mattered.
"Kaen..." He whispered his brother's name, uncertain as to how to reply. He was not one to be at a loss for words, and now...?
It had been so long since his brother had shown up with that forlorn dappled-grey mare... and now, it felt as though he was not worthy of offering advice.
What could he say, when all he had offered had failed?
A small, hopeful smile lingered on Kaelas' face.
He had been so eager to remove himself from the chaos... his parents' love, his uncle's despair, that mare's insanity (for what else could it be?)... so why was he so eager to see them again?
... Well, maybe it had something to do with time's passing. After all, no amount of time nor distance could shake true love. Wasn't that was his father was always saying?
He glanced at Zoe, smiling to see her soldiering resolutely on. He had been careful, cautious, trying not to push her too hard- grimly amused that the sister that had once flitted so gregariously before him now struggled to keep pace.
And now they were almost there!
He smiled, looked up, caught a glimpse of an ebony mare at the entrance to a deceptively shallow cavern.
Mother.
"Kaen, you must understand..." he paused, sighing. How best to put this? "She is not in her right mind. She does not see you for you- she does not care for your faults, your flaws, your emotions... she thinks only of herself." There was truth in that; Kaen was no more than a tool for Evelyn. Even her professed 'noble deed'- decimating her relationship with that tawny stallion- was pure selfishness. She couldn't see the pain she'd caused- she actually thought he would be better off without her. Even though she thought of herself as worthless, a low-life, a coward... even though she hated herself for what she had done, she still thought only of 'me, me, me.'
A wraith, a shadow of her former self, she lingered on... as Sadiki had so long ago. But Sadiki's heartbreak lay in the deeds of another... not of her own doing.
"Let her go." Kazan shook his head, instantly negating the idea. As they had realized the first time Evelyn had sought to flee their presence, and returned emaciated- draped across Kaen like some two-legged's coat- the mare would die if she was left alone. If she didn't have Sadiki there, feeding her, nourishing her, loving her when no one else could care.
Even he had stopped caring after a while... once he had heard of what she had done. For she did not regret her deeds... she mourned that she yet lived.
"... Leave her be."
So unlike him, to suggest giving up. And yet what else was there?
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Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:42 am
Zoe flashed a quick smile at Kaelas before hurrying onwards, her hooves flying at a pace henceforth unmatched as she rounded the curve and spotted her mother's splendid form above the foliage.
"Mom! Mommy!" the words tore forth, her voice crackling in joy as she broke into a light canter. Her movements were stunted, her considerable girth interfering with her ability to move smoothly.
She soon dropped to a lurching gait, mindful of the foal's well-being. It wasn't good for them to be jostled about like that, was it?
But... but... "Daddy!" she squealed, spotting her father nearby. And... oh, and Uncle Kaen.
... she'd forgotten Uncle Kaen.
She paused, her greeting dying on her lips.
What would he think?
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Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 2:29 pm
Kaen blanched, rather taken aback by his brother's suggestion.
Give up?
Roll over?
Play dead?
"Never."
How could he pretend like she didn't matter? How could he go back to the way things once were...? No, he couldn't go back. He couldn't forget.
Most of all...
He didn't want to.
Even through the pain, the anguish, even though she seemed to cause nothing but drama, fuel nothing but dismay in those around her... he wouldn't give up. That tantalizing glimpse of the mare she once was haunted his every waking moment... and he wanted to restore her to her former glory.
He knew he could. After all, hadn't his brother done that for Sadiki?
He glanced at the mare in question, frowning to himself.
But how...?
Sadiki sighed, preparing herself for the argument that was to come- and stopped.
Motionless, her ears perked as her heart swelled with joy and hope.
Was that... could it be?
Her lavender gaze darting to and fro like an excited hummingbird, she sought the source of that familiar voice.
It was!
Her children had returned. "Zoe! Kaelas!" her heart swelled with pride; they looked so good! She made her way down the well-trodden path, stately grace cast aside in the joy of the moment.
She rushed past the two brothers, towards her children.
"Ah, my loves..." she paused, gaze lingering on her daughter's belly.
Her smile never faltered.
"Congratulations."
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