If the journey Westward had seemed long, then traveling back along familiar ground that he had already traversed seemed twice as long.There was none of the jovial conversation with Cricket, no excited promises of what the next mile might bring them, no new wonders to see with new eyes. Just... memories. Each mile brought back memories of his trip to find his father with Cricket. Of the foolhearty trip he had taken to find something that he had invested so much meaning into that was... hollow. He had lived his entire life without knowing his sire. His mother had raised him, taught him to be a good stallion, told him stories of her homeland and the way the world worked. And he had turned his back on that. Off on some stupid quest to hope to find himself when he knew now that he wasn't in his father. And the more he looked for him, the more he let the dark blood of his father worm its way into him. He had known jealousy, anger, fear, and lashed out violently against his own brother.
He had found himself in the journey all right. And not all of it was good. He didn't vindicate this absent father - he was likely every bit the demon that other soquili implied when they saw Ethan's horns and fangs. And that realization was what he needed to make the decision that regardless of how close he came to finding him - maybe those horrid woods had been his very territory - Ethan made the decision that he didn't need to know him to know himself. He didn't need Dyson to tell him who he was. He couldn't know that any more than Ethan could tell Fianna who she was. How he came to be wasn't who he was. His life was. And Dyson never had been a part of that.
He didn't regret going on this journey. He couldn't have stayed by his mother's side for all his life, sheltered form the world. He had met a lot of fear and anger from other soquili along his journey, but he had also met some truly wonderful ones as well... Although there were aspects of this journey he certianly regretted. He had caused hurt in others... those that he cared about... Cricket...
And he had left foals behind. Daughters. He had done wrong by them and by Hunter. And even if Fianna didn't stay long enough for him to make it right with her, he had to hope he'd have the opportunity to do so in the future. But for now, he could find Hunter. Try to make it right.
So he walked, remembering with each hoofbeat the journey he had taken, the steps that had shaped him more than his father ever had.
And while this trip was much harder than the optimistic journey Westward, this time, he had more direction than every before; a sense of duty and purpose, and a clearer understanding of his place in the world.
Days stretched to weeks, and finally, finally, after it felt like he had gone three times as far as he had come, he saw the same, unmistakable sparkling lake... and he could smell the same particular scent of flowers and trees on the air.
He was here.
Note July 8, 2012: it's been some time since this RP has had movement - so I'll go ahead and consider it closed for the moment - but drop me a PM if you want to get it going again.
