Zoey felt bad.
She had never intended that her friend should be hurt because of a game, but she did try to make it right by using the abilities she was supposed to have. But they didn’t make much of a difference at all. Was it because she was so young and untrained? Or was there something wrong with her?
Head lowered, she wandered in almost a daze until she reached the clearing where her mother was waiting. The filly just sighed, waiting for the lecture she knew was to come for her disobedience. And this time she would listen. After all, in this instance, she deserved whatever her maman could dish out.
Liliah had grown frightened when she first noticed Zoey missing. Fright turned to panic as time went on and stll the high spirited filly remained missing. Liliah knew in her mind that foals would explore, and test the boundaries that were set for them –she herself had been quite the hoof-ful as a filly, and she’d had an entire herd to look out for her- but in her heart… this was her daughter, and there were so many dangers around many that Zoey wouldn’t even know about… The young mare was quickly working herself into a panic.
By the time Zoey came trotting out from the woods, her head low and dejected, Liliah had had the time to come up with a blistering lecture, but one look at her heartbroken little one and the words died on her lips. Rushing over to the filly’s side, she runs her healer trained eyes over her form looking for some injury or cause for the upset and serious demeanor the youngling sported.
“What’s wrong Zoey-love? Are you hurt? What on earth were you thinking going into the forest on your own?”Having determined that Zoaran was clearly unscathed- for which she silently thanked every deity she could think of and then some- she was able to turn her attentions back to the issue at hand, and that was impressing the seriousness of what she had done to the thick-headed foal.
Zoey flinched with each question, refusing to speak.
She was unable, though, to hold her tongue when maman took a breath, preparing to launch into the lecture.
“Maman, am I defective?” The words were spoken in the softest of whispers, but she knew maman would hear her. She always did. “You see, --- and I were in the woods, and whilest we were playing, she tripped and scraped up her legs just a little. An’ since you always say how I should be able to heal with my horn, I tried. An’ while I was able to slow the bleeding a little bit, I couldn’t stop it, nor heal the injury. It was something so small. If I really am able to heal, then why couldn’t I? Maman, what’s wrong with me?”
Liliah flinched. She knew that eventually this would come up, especially with the way she had always talked up the unicorn part of her daughter’s heritage. The endless stories about what good they were capable of, all the while refusing to mention the part of her blood she shared with her daughter. The plain unmagical part. She had always hoped that it would be later, much later when she would have to explain the meaning of being a half-breed.
For a moment, a few heartbeats, the blink of an eye, Liliah wished there was a way she could get out of the coming talk which would break both of their hearts. Fleetingly she wished she knew where her daughter’s sire was so she could shift the responsibility to his shoulders, but part of this was her own fault, and she knew she had to take responsibility for the consequences of her actions.
She led her daughter to a quiet area under the shade of an apple tree, and she sank slowly so that she was laying on the grass. She motioned for Zoey to come and lay down beside her. “Tell me, my own, what do you know of half-ings?”
