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 Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 8:17 pm
 The new dawn of day warmed across the skin of an unsuspecting wind soquili. Unsuspecting that this day, would be the first day to change the rest of his life...
Earth toned feathers twitched to life. Alcyon opened his eyes and smiled out at the world. It was common for some, to complain of mornings at his age. The young and the young at heart, wishing they could sleep their day away. For him though, mornings were welcomed, no matter how tired his hollow feathers might be.
Turning a head towards the place where his companion slept, Alcyon rose to his feet and began to stretch. He pawed his front hooves out on the ground till his back legs were about to lose their footing, then he let them hop forward to meet the rest of his body. With a heaving sigh at the sensation of getting the blood flowing, he made his way over to where Swiftmane slept.
Swiftmane... the very thought of her made his mind heady. His heart ached for her in the purest way. It had been a slow...courtship? If that's what you wanted to call utter denial of everything he put forth into the relationship. Love is selfless. was his plea to which he had no regret for. Just last night they had a heated conversation. Things had been awkward without the girls around to keep him busy. His mind constantly swirled around Swift, but her mind was elsewhere. The debate was over her suffering and how lonely she was. Alcyon had offered her freedom from that burden, by at least trying to be by his side. Things had been progressing as of late, and he could tell she had feelings for him. He tried not to mention it, since it seemed to cause her pain the times he had, but this much suffering was not necessary. By the end of the night, she wanted to sleep alone, and think. He had obliged without a heavy heart. Most would be discouraged, but for Al, he could just "be". The rest didn't matter.
Alcyon walked with a slowing pace. The patch where Swiftmane lay to rest the night before, was empty, the grass, untouched. Soft shoulders dejected down, and his wings went limp at his side. For the first time, he felt a fool. She was gone. Not a fool for the love he spent, but a fool for not seeing the signs. He would have stuck to her side, guided her! As he thought this, he stomped a hoof down and looked up to the blue sky. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, releasing the urge to shed tears. After all, he didn't cry. The most frustrating part of this all, was the dang mares speed. He half chuckled to himself, appreciating everything about her, even if that would prove that the hours of the night provided a great distance of a head start for Swift.
He turned and began to walk. Echoes of conversations of a strange land, and a lover.. Swift would always stare in the direction he left. He knew that blank back stare very well. With a nod, he quickened his pace, loosing his feathery wings beside him and letting them feel the air. The local herd would have no information, she wouldn't have stopped there first, neither would he.
This is the way! With every ounce of strength, he set out with a methodic beat, the greatest he knew. Heartfelt wings brought him high into the sky, and then propelled him forward as if they had a mind of their own, they too, wanting to find Swift.
A flight. A distance. A love. A mission.
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Posted: Sun May 08, 2011 11:41 am
Alcyon rose a head up, as if in greeting to the night sky above him. A week had passed since he left his homeland. He had been traversing closer to the heart of the so called Kawani lands. He did not stop in this time, except to rest and eat. Common sense kept him from over exertion. If he lost strength, it would only lengthen the venture in this unknown. Upon meeting a few locals, he inquired about the distance, and asked of his Swift. So far, nothing, but he thanked those he spoke with anyways. It seemed that the population of soquili in Kawani was vast. It would dampen his search. There were also times where he saw a glimmer of a ghost, and thought it was his Swift, but it either proved to be nothing, or someone else.
The week had been so long.
Tonight, as the stars twinkled back a hello, he felt as if he could keep going. Tonight could be the night! Testing the strength of his wings, he found his second wind. The lone heart in his chest was barely enough to contain the excitement, the promise, of finding that which he sought so hard to find. The search could be futile, but he didn't once think such things.
Beating his wings a few times, he gave a few hops and took a slow passage into the abyss of the dark sky. The only thing about traveling at night, was the possibility of miss-sight for those below. He would fly low, and take it easy for a few hours.
A celestial ticket.
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 7:53 am
She sighed. She sighed a lot lately, it was a direct result of losing her sister on a regular basis. It took her quite a lot of time to track her down, but no sooner had she found Kaycie, than the boisterous mare had already barrelled off again. It was a vicious cycle to be sure and often left Quicken exposed and vulnerable to the various elements that existed in these strange and foreign lands. Alas, the Zhevra wasn't thinking of the weather when she made such musings, she was referring to the darker and more dangerous aspects of the Kawani province that she had had the pleasure of encountering in her brief time here.
Suffice to say that the petite Zhevra didn't think many others could claim they had been assaulted by a murderous Alicorn. Nor could they claim to have encountered him more than once, with the second leading to a rather fateful encounter with a very bizarre looking stallion. She'd fainted of course, suspecting that said stallion would eat her but it had been a deceptive moment in which looks weren't everything. As opposed to eating her, he had fended off her assailant and more curiously, his favourite food was apples and not flesh. While he had been an awkward stallion to get along with, she had been thankful for his company had gotten a friend out of it too - through the stallion she had met Humphrey, a goat, who had become one of her closest buddies.
Alas, she had parted ways from them eventually and was once again wandering idly in search of her sibling. As of yet, Kaycie was nowhere to be seen but Quicken would find her eventually, she always did. It would be a tiny element of luck, combined with hearsay...or at least this was typically how things went.
She proceeded forward, retreating from the forest's edge and into the open plains. Wading through the long grass, the petite mare was given the opportunity to savour the peace and tranquility that the night brought. After all, Quicken had made the observation that the evening was much safer than the day when it came to travelling - bards and the like might have disagreed with her, but she knew her stalker was generally found around noon. Having yet to encounter the likes of a Kalona or a Skinwalker, she was more than content to travel by the stars. Besides, she liked the view and they always seemed to bring her luck!
This in mind, she hoped that luck would be with her tonight. Picking a more set direction, she continued forward and kept her gaze fixed on the horizon ahead of her. Hopefully she would spot someone who might be able to direct her towards her sibling, they were bound to have crossed paths with her at some point - that or Quicken would spot Kaycie herself, she wasn't fussed, either of these options would do...
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 7:40 pm
Apparently, night flying was distracting. Thoughts scattered across his destination, and the loneliness of the nights calm voice. Alcyon wasn't one to be overwhelmed by the fact that he was alone, but that's because he had never been truly alone. Swiftmane had always been close, though not by his side. Nostalgia distorted his eyes. Though the world was clearly seen, his mind was in visions of yesterday.
This idea of staying up late to search the grounds was proving a bit disheartening. Shaking his head, he tried hard to focus on the ground below. The blue-green hue of the night forest edge ribboned up on the far horizon. Doubtful he would find anything in the forest, aside from a nights rest.
There it goes again. Images of yesterday tugged at his consciousness and he recalled the time in which he had first met Swiftmane. She was one hot mess. Pregnant, and alone. He wanted to help her, fix her disposition. No, it wasn't out of pity, but because he wanted to.
Alcyon unknowingly passed right over Quicken, in the opposite direction! He was so busy night-dreaming away. Irresponsible flying but harmlessly so. The image of black and white went off as a delayed image to his receptors, interjecting a red flag into his mind. He did a 180 mid flight, half flipping sideways and flailing his legs out at the mixed trajectory. The ground rushed up to his face in a tumble of horse, leg, and wing. He managed to catch wind under his wing just as one hoof hit the ground, to which he used to push himself back up. He would have to land now, the decent was too quick. After the small push off the ground, he folded his wings and landed. His heart thudded in his ears enough to make his head spin. Quite possibly the worst landing of his life.
It took a second. A reminder of why he had whipped around brought his attention back to earth. His heart skipped a beat and he looked up in the grass trying to make sense of what he had possibly missed. "Hello..?" he called out as liquid marbles tried to peer into the darkness, making a light trot in the direction he thought he just flew from. He could have been completely turned around in that little air-tastrophe.
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 8:14 am
It definitely wouldn't have been the most dignified of landings, but at least it hadn't been fatal! In many respects, a worse landing would have been an instant fatality for the wind. Why? Well, it was safe to say that the mare he had mistaken for Swiftmane was no avid healer. Truth be told, she'd practiced little and as a consequence, did not excel at what should have been a natural-born talent. Alas, his landing had benefited him in some respects as he had made himself known almost instantly.
Few could mistake the loud 'bump' of hooves as they slammed onto the soil. Apply a flurry of wings, the sound of a held breath and an 'oof' and she had a very obvious landing. Suffice to say that Alcyon had not gone unnoticed, he'd been heard in an immediate sense, even if he hadn't been seen and as a consequence the mare had frozen on the spot. In the dead of night, her markings were incredibly useful. In the two-tone, monochrome of the evening, Quicken was suitably difficult to spot - it would take a double take (or three) before anyone would potentially spot the petite Zhevra.
Alas, Alcyon was in luck - while he might have surprised the young mare, she wasn't one to forget those she loved easily and when he spoke up, her ears pricked forward. She knew that voice, it had been in her life since she was a babe. Having been raised by her mother, Quicken's world had been made up of Swiftmane, Kaycie and one other... a father figure, a wind who had elected to make himself a constant in their lives.
Admittedly, now she was older, Quicken could appreciate he had probably elected to be a constant in her mother's life, Kaycie and she simply came as part of that package!
"Alcyon...?" she replied back, a touch uncertain. She had been mistaken in these things before, she had to be cautious.
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 2:19 pm
An ear cupped to the left, then forward again at the sound of a response. Delicate blue eyes strained in the night towards the direction of the voice. His hooves bounded with a mind of their own, in premature greeting to the mare, before she was even seen.
He stopped for a second, when he thought he was heading in the wrong direction. But then he caught glimpse of an all too farmilar mare! Likely because she had spotted him fumbling around first. "Quicken!" his soft muzzle opened to yield the biggest smile. Although Quicken, Kaycie, and Swift all had striking resemblances to one another, he would never mistake one for the other up close. Only in quick flight, and at a glance, had he thought he saw Swiftmane. It was only natural, since he had been thinking about her so much.
Alcyon hadn't even thought about the girls till now, and the repressed thoughts came back to him all at once. Before he left his home land, he had thought about them often. On his current journey, he had been quite wrapped up in finding Swiftmane. He felt a bit incomplete without knowing where she was.
"By the luck of the stars!" he exclaimed as he hopped over to her. The greeting embraced compassion, as if there was no social boundary between the two. Alcyon didn't care if he wasn't her father, he felt like he was. He strode up to her and nipped at her playfully, as if she was a yearling again. "How have you been?! What have you been up to? I've missed you so much. Did you miss me too?!" his warmth oozed into a cluster of questions. He was so happy to see her!
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Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 3:04 pm
Quicken had never known her real father and for the most part, her mother had been fairly vague on the details surrounding his identity. She'd picked up information here and there from her herd, but it still hadn't given her any conclusive information. That being said, Quicken was not the strongest investigator out there and it had been down to Kaycie that any concrete details had been discovered in relation to the fabled bloodsire - it was because of Kaycie that Quicken was even here!
When it came down to the wire though, Quicken would be the first to say that deep down, she would always regard Alcyon as her father. He'd been there since she had been a baby, he'd raised her while in the presence of Swiftmane and he had been an exemplary male role model in her life. Sure, he looked nothing like them and Quicken had known he wasn't their real father but sometimes...emotional bonds were a far stronger force than blood. Consequently, Quicken couldn't be faulted for her response towards the wind stallion and her demeanour brightened considerably.
"Mmmm, I would say I have missed you," she confirmed, a shy smile toying across her features. It was tentative at first, but as familiarity set in, it began to deepen and she relaxed. It was a rare moment of bliss for her, since leaving the security of her herd, she hadn't really had the chance to simply relax... not without the risk of getting killed anyway. "And I've been okay," she continued and shook her head, "Although I do spend most of my time looking for Kaycie..."
"She runs off an awful lot," she confessed, perhaps a touch wrily. "Apparently she's getting closer to finding our dad but I dunno," she hesitated and pulled a face. "I don't really like this place all that much, it's got a lot of mean folks," she murmured. She shook her head and quickly dismissed the negative musings from her mind, after all, it was better not to concern anyone with so many trivial musings evem if he was her dad.
"Why are you so far out, is everything ok?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 2:12 pm
"Awwww." he said with apathetic concern. Quickens face reflected such a mix of emotions. He stepped up to encourage her, and try to change that face. "Give the place some time, and you may find it's not so bad. If not, you always have a place back home." he said with a supporting smile.
Alcyon had given his everything to being there for all three mares. The relationship between him and Quicken, or Kaycie, was more relaxing and easy, than that of the one with Swiftmane. There was a constant emotion that he could rely on always being there. He never had to scold either daughter, but would rather talk to them in a respectful way. Anger was one thing he never had an issue with. If there was something that did anger the stallion...he would leave the situation, to preserve the well being of anyone that had pissed him off that bad.
"My gosh, I don't know where to start. Things have been delicate since you and Kaycie left for these parts of the land. Mom has been increasingly complacent. I think a part of her left with you, and wished to be on the journey you now take." Alcyon softened up on the inside as he continued. "She had gone in search of your father, too." He smirked, brushing the impending feelings away like he always did. "And now here I am too, following the girls I love." he said with a playful n** and Quicken's mane.
"Kaycie running off is of no surprise to me. She has the spirit of her mother, fast and determined, and she will find what she's looking for." he said with the utmost confidence. He was sure Swift would find her way too. Part of him wanted to meet their father too, but he didn't want to ever cause any kind of dissension with him. He would remain in his current position, cautiously optimistic that things would turn out just fine. The most important thing, was that he had found Quicken unexpectedly, and still desired to find Swift.
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 3:44 am
His optimism was normally infectious and she would have embraced it if she was at home, but past experiences in the Kawani had ensured she was a lot more skeptical. She had been attacked more than once and it was only by good fortune alone that she hadn't been killed. The intervention of a passerby had ensured the encounter hadn't been fatal and she dreaded to think what would have happened if he hadn't been there. Unfortunately, her poor luck hadn't left her there either and while her attacker might have been chased off once before she had bumped into him once or twice later on. Suffice to say that all her experience had led to a rise in skittishness and a strong desire to go home...The only reason she stayed, was for Kaycie.
Nevertheless, she did her best to smile in appreciation towards her father and his encouragement. Perhaps if her experiences became more positive and enjoyable, then she would be able to adopt a more pleasant stance. It would take time, something she was a little wary to give, but if one took into consideration the length of time it might take Kaycie to track down their 'father' then maybe that would be enough? She didn't know and she knew it was impossible to foresee what lay ahead of her, there was no use musing over it further.
She'd hazard a guess she'd probably find herself back home.
Still, his remarks about her mother did give her cause for concern and she furrowed her brow. She could understand Kaycie's desire to find out who her father was, but why would their mother want to see him too? He'd left her, just up and run off, what did she expect to happen? If there was an assumption that he might request forgiveness and return then Quicken was surprisingly against this! After all, the petite Zhevra had a father that had been there all her life, she didn't need a second one too - especially one who had run off when her mother was most vulnerable!
"Why would she even want to see him? He was a coward and he was mean," she sighed and shook her head. She had posed the same question to Kaycie and had received an answer that rested heavily on the necessity for 'closure'... Quicken hadn't needed it but she had always been more settled in comparison to her mother and sister. "So she's definitely here then, somewhere in these lands?" she continued and pursed her lips. "Maybe I should find her, there's a murderer on the loose and he rather likes unicorn horns..."
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 7:40 pm
Alcyon listened on as she spoke. Something about her seemed different from his little mare. Almost as if part of her has been sapped out tirelessly. Even though she smiled back at him, he couldn't quite put a hoof on what seemed off. He couldn't help but agree about her biological father to some extent. Yes, he caused suffering in Swift with his abandonment, but they were both very young. It could have been much worse with his daughters early on, but his heart had grown soft for them before they could even know what was going on. He had made it part of his purpose in life to make sure they never felt that they lacked the guidance of a loving parental stallion in their life. All good things have a mirrored side... He didn't sit around waiting for the other half to unveil. He enjoyed life in full with his family, and didn't fret over what they might one day learn. It wasn't a secret after all. Once they did learn about their real father, it didn't change much. At least until till Kaycie was older. Seeing their moms disposition over the males in her life likely never helped. If only Swift had bridged the gap between the two of them...perhaps the family would have felt more whole. They'd all be together right now instead of spread out in a foreign land.
The mention of a murderer swarmed in his brain and he went numb. He felt dizzy. This was no good at all! The thought of any of the mares he loved getting hurt, pained his heart. "Wh--what?! A murderer?!" He snapped to and became defensive. "How do you know this Quicken?" he frowned and moved up beside her with one wing arched over her back, as if to shield her while he glanced around in confusion. What could he do against a murderer? Half of him wanted to cry out for Swift and Kaycie, wishing they were all together again.
Together again..
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:23 am
How did she know? That was a reasonable question and yet it caused the mare to shuffle uncomfortably and stare at her hooves. The reason she knew, was simply because she had been unfortunate enough to encounter him. If it hadn't been for the intervention of one particular (and unique) stallion, she probably would have been lying on the forest floor at the hooves of a very malicious wind soquili. Suffice to say that he hadn't been impressed with her escape either and the glint in his eyes had seemed to indicate that someway, somehow, he might find her.
Like mother, like daughter...it seemed as though Quicken might be required to run forever in order to keep herself safe. Granted this was a different kind of 'safe', but it was still ironic that she was shadowing the footsteps of her mother in some form - though her mother (and Alcyon) probably would have been horrified at the revelation.
"A wind soquili," she confessed with a heavy sigh and closed her eyes as she recalled how he looked, "Part green...well more like mint, and part brown," she continued and shook her head. "He doesn't like unicorns, I don't really know why but he hates them and once he gets close to you..." she trailed off into silence and shook her head.
"You gotta run," she murmured. "You gotta run real fast."
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Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 6:18 pm
A rampaging unicorn-horn hungry wind soquili? He had never in all his life heard of such a horrific monster. What would possess someone to perform such evil? All he could do at first in response, was to stand there with his mouth gaping and his eyes wider still. How did his precious Quicken come to know of this? Being a stranger to this land, the dangers were unknown to him. Perhaps this threat was known amongst many. Still, something told him this was more than just common knowledge. She mentioned detail, down to the coloration of this perpetrators skin.
His feathery wing remained over her back as he closed his jaw and responded with deep concern. "Quicken that's just awful." An almost hurtful expression pained in his brows. "Did he... hurt you?" The desire to hold her closer budded up inside him, like a small filly, but he knew she was too old for that kind of embrace. The look on his face was one filled with conflict and love. What could he do? If only he had the means to rid the area of a murderer like that. Alas, a fighter was one thing he was not. It would be futile to try and think he was any less. Thank goodness the spirits had gifted the Zhevra' with speed. She was obviously in tact. Running isn't a pleasant way to spend your life. He didn't want her to have to run from anything, or anyone. Worst yet, what of Swiftmane and Kaycie? Spirits pray they are okay too!
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