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 Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 8:43 pm
  "Bless The Broken Road" I set out on a narrow way many years ago Hoping I would find true love along the broken road But I got lost a time or two Wiped my brow and kept pushing through I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you [Chorus:] Every long lost dream led me to where you are Others who broke my heart they were like Northern stars Pointing me on my way into your loving arms This much I know is true That God blessed the broken road That led me straight to you I think about the years I spent just passing through I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you But you just smile and take my hand You've been there you understand It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true [Chorus] Now I'm just rolling home Into my lover's arms This much I know is true That God blessed the broken road That led me straight to you That God blessed the broken road That led me straight to you. Song here
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 8:54 pm
He was out and away from the village for once. A six month pregnant Ehawee had physically shoved him from his paddock and told him to go find something to do with himself. She told him he was depressing and in her condition she just didn't think he should hang around until he could change his mood. He couldn't blame her, she was so happy, he could see it in her eyes. But this time she just couldn't rub the happy off on him.
Though she had wept with him and mourned the loss of one of his foals and his new mate...she had gotten over it quicker. Said she had other things to worry about. That you couldn't dwell on the past. And she had moved on. She had a new husband and a baby on the way. He couldn't blame her.
He own foal...was now six months old. Maj couldn't remember that last time he'd wiling looked at the dun colored paint. The color reminded him of his mother...at which point Maj couldn't help but weep. Tebald, Maj had named him and then left him to his own devises. The village was taking care of him. He wouldn't.
Maj didn't know how long he'd been standing there beside the stream staring at his own reflection and absorbed in his own thoughts but it must have been a long time.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 9:36 pm
Ali flew low near the village where the two-leggers lived, including her father's two-legger. As she looked for a place to land, she sighed heavily. She'd spent the day visiting with her two real daughters, Neri and Esme, and her honorary daughter, Branwen. Spending time with those three beautiful and loving daughters made her sadly reflect on her own little ones. As she flew low, she sang a song she'd heard fairly recently in her sweet and low voice.
On this half-lit day,
With your crown beneath your wings,
Every word just echoes,
And the empty world sings.
Where have you gone, my feather-light heart?
I never imagined you would leave.
Where have you gone, my sparkling wind?
Life here is the hardest place to be.
Finding a nice place to land in a meadow some way from the village, she slowed down and backwinged, hardly pausing in her song.
In the glistening
Of the lost and open sky,
Tiny piece of you sits:
Simple wish waits for reply.
Where have you gone, my feather-light heart?
I never imagined you would leave.
Where have you gone, my sparkling wind?
Life here is the hardest place to be.
She strolled through the meadow slowly, taking deep breaths to calm herself. Green and fresh, smelling of summer wildflowers. Her little 'Ailana had been foalnapped that winter, but time hadn't erased her pain and grief, only lessened it. She'd continued on, fueled by her mate and her two daughters who needed her. Lacking the eldest filly to love, she'd loved the two younger all the more.
Looking around, she noticed a lavender-and-black pinto stallion standing beside a stream, apparently immersed in his own thoughts, which might very well be dark. Stepping forward, curious and hoping to cheer him up, her golden bell chimed clearly as though it was a piece of her soul. Whatever was eating this stallion probably shouldn't be, and Ali was interested in easing his pain.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 10:05 pm
He'd heard her singing...somewhere in the back of his mind...before her approach but didn't raises his head until the bell chimed. It was like a call of him to wake up and and he turned his head to look at her. A dark winged mare with blonde hair. So far as he could tell she didn't look anything like Rita...which made it better for him to look at her. "What? You have wings. You can fly away and go. Why don't you?" He didn't know quite what had caused him to immediately push her away but normally he would have been very nice and formal. However, that part of his brain apparently wasn't working now.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 10:16 pm
Ali winced. Looks like she'd have her work cut out for her. Thankfully, Blake was usually at least a little bit tetchy and snarky, so she could deal with lashing out. She tossed her head slightly to get the bangs out of her eyes.
"It's true that I have wings and can fly where I choose. However, I choose not to fly away, not when it looks like someone is in trouble. I won't let anyone suffer alone when I can help them." She stepped closer more firmly, her bell chiming in tune to her more assured stride. She was startled by eyes as golden as her own, but it made her equally resolved to not back down in this situation.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 10:34 pm
His eyes softened for the barest of a second before going back to dead, lifeless, sad and dismal. Stubborn mare. He turned his head away to look back into the water "You must be rather daft to choose such a thing. You can't help me. Not when I can't help myself. I don't think I need your help. More damn mares to complicate my life doesn't sound like fun. Just fly away. You don't know me. You can forget and be happy." He sighed after the rambling and hoofed a rock into the steam just to hear the pop as it hit the water.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 10:48 pm
Ali wanted to sigh, but settled with letting out the softest of breaths. Love troubles. She hadn't had problems with this since before the girls were born. Her eyes were drawn to the stream as the rock plopped into the pristine water, shattering the fragile reflection.
"True, I don't have relationship problems myself, but I still choose not to live knowing I left someone I could help unhelped. For me, it's far worse to know that I left someone alone and hurt when I could have helped them, than to butt in and try to help. Besides, it isn't as if I haven't seen my own share of troubles," she added, a soft catch in her voice.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 11:18 pm
He let his head lol and watched the ripples, mostly ignoring her. Unitl she mentioned relationship problems. Relationship problems? His head snapped up and he looked at her as if she was mentally addled. Angry now, for some unknown reason, he bellowed at her.
"Relationship problems? Relationships problems?! Do relationship problems include having your child stolen in the night by a voodoo priestess, learning your mate lied and then watching her slink off into the night never to be seen again? Do they?! Because I don't think they do."
His anger suddenly spent he got a bewildered look on his face and visibly deflated, turning back to the stream and his reflection.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 11:38 pm
Ali stiffened. Oh, he SO did not say that. Rage and grief assailed her. "Mate lying and running away, no," she said coldly. "But my baby, my first-born baby girl being kidnapped or murdered shortly after her birth, never to see her ever again, never to know if she's all right or will ever remember her parents or two little sisters, I--I--I--" she choked out, sobs and tears coming to her and ripping through her.
Her head shot up, erect with angry pride and deep motherly sorrow. She refused to look in the eye someone who could not stop grieving long enough to see any who needed him. "I'd wager you also do not know the terror of your second-eldest sister trying to murder you from the instant you were born, just because you were a good person. You wouldn't know the fears instilled when a kalona-skinwalker tries to eat you and your third-eldest sister and your eventual mate when the three of you are merely foals. I doubt you know the pain of helping your mother raise your hell-sister's three accursed baskets that she willingly had with the monster who tried to eat you."
She finally forced herself to look the stallion in the eye. "But you also don't know the sheer joy at finding that even a demon can give birth to an angel. You are probably so deeply sunk in your grief that you can't see when those who still need you. Sure. I'm still looking for my lost baby girl. But that doesn't mean I will let my two younger girls suffer from loneliness because I see their lost sister in them. And I won't let my niece fall into darkness just because her mother BEGGED Oyohusa to make her a SKINWALKER!" she shouted, thoroughly infuriated by this pathetically grieving father and mate, who she now suspected of abandoning his other foal in his misery.
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:03 am
The sudden anger bewildered him so he turned his head up to watch her. He'd ignored the hurt and sob, but the anger. She looked like she was angry enough to spit fire and grow horns. He blinked three times then his eyes rounded and he stepped back three steps. For once in the span of six months he opened his ears and listened, really listened, and was amazed at what he heard. Why had she landed and asked to help him when her life was full of such turmoil. A skinwalker? For a sister? With a kalona-skinwalker boyfriend? He couldn't fathom. He'd heard Hoto tell stories of things with such evil but had never seen, never actually believed...but he'd never believed in voodoo priestess before either. And then she said something that struck a cord. "Tebald." He breath. Just a breath, barely even a word. He felt something in his ears...or maybe it was his brain...pop and was instantly ashamed.
"I'm sorry." He walked toward her resolutely, looked her in the eye. "I'm sorry." Tears he had been holding back ( not tears of pity and hurt but true sadness, remorse and regret at his actions) fell and he touched her muzzle just barely. "Thank you. I'm sorry. I am very foolish."
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:14 am
Ali stepped back, her bell jingling forlornly. "Say you're sorry to your little one, first. He needs to know that you love him, that he really means the world to you, since both of you were thrown away by your mate. You weren't the only one hurt; your little one must miss familial affection terribly." Tears slowly streaked down her starry cheeks.
"My own life hasn't been a bed of roses, but I don't let my pain hurt anyone else. Even though my sister and her one-time mate terrify the life out of me, I would fight both of them at the same time all by myself to protect those I love. Even though my first daughter is gone and I don't know who did it, I make sure my remaining baby girls know they mean everything to me and their daddy. Even though my evil sister has abandoned all of her children, whenever I come across them, I try to make sure they know that I'm there for them, through thick and thin. In the face of suffering, love is the most important thing we have, and letting love in any form go means that whatever hurt us also hurt all of our loved ones by association."
She turned away, trying not to choke with sobs and tears. "Now that my remaining children are grown and I have free time, I look for my first little one, in hopes that I can bring her home to the loving family she deserves." Ali bent her head and raised her wings around herself defensively, not wanting the stallion to come closer when he didn't even understand how much he'd hurt his own remaining foal through the fog of his personal grief.
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:35 am
He felt something familiar rush back. His old self. He felt so much better. "You are correct. And I am very stupid...though I did not tell you there was another foal but there is indeed. But I'm afraid I might have already done the damage. Tebald doesn't spend much time around me, my teepee or the other horses. He prefers the children and isn't seen at all during the day. I'm afraid I couldn't find him right now if I tried." A part of his brain wondered where he'd stored these tidbits and why he hadn't used them sooner and then shook it off. He'd created hurt and pain and he was going to start by reassuring the mare. She was far too pretty to have that haunted look in her eyes. Though he imagined that look was similar to his own minuets before.
"Mare," he realized he didn't know her name and was rather surprised at his extreme rudeness ", I cannot undo what I've done. I can only attempt to correct...and I shall try my damnedest. Do not condemn me just yet. At least understand that you've helped opened my grief clouded apparently very stupid eyes. I thank you. I really do."
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 7:28 am
Ali was quiet while he told her of the son he'd left alone and as he assured her that he would do everything in his power to change that. She slowly looked up, their golden eyes meeting as parents who'd lost their firstborn children, had initially reacted very differently, and now were on the same track. Slowly, Ali nodded.
"You can't give back your Tebald the time the two of you have lost together, but you can give him the rest of your time once you succeed in reaching out to him. As long as he knows that you were hurt before and you love him enough for two amazing sons, something may heal inside for him and may allow him to open back up again," she said more gently, swallowing her tears and sobs.
It occurred to her that he'd called her "mare" and that they didn't know each other's names. "I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. My name is Alienore. What's yours?"
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 2:13 pm
He nodded at her response. "I fear it was not Tebald that upset me, but rather his mother's treachery. I loved her. I loved her more than I've ever loved another being save my human. But that mare, she lied. And if not lied then left out a major part. Thinking I was stupid and wouldn't understand probably." He began to pace as he told his tale more clearly. "Apparently Zarita also had a human. A young girl that she cherished very much. This I can understand. When I found her she mentioned another village and a plague. I assumed she was hurting but wanted to give her a new village, a new home. I thought she was happy. I did not know she had made a pact with a voodoo priests some months earlier. The priestess wanted one of Zarita's first born foals. In exchange she'd bring back her human from the dead. Zarita agreed, thinking it was a small price to pay and almost believing it wouldn't happen. She never intended to have a male anyway. But she met me. I thought she loved me. She said she loved me. True I was worried when she wasn't excited about the pregnancy but I thought it was natural for a new mother to be nervous. On the night of the birth she hid from me and I had to find her. What I found was two baskets already sealed and gaining coloration, a tired Zarita and woman tutting over my baskets and choosing her favorite. I tried to stop her but she drugged me with a powder and then proceeded to tell the story with sick glee. She took my basket, a pretty purple and cream one, my mate and my soul. I searched but they were gone. I've wallowed ever since." He choked on a sob but immediately pulled back the tears. Remorse was fine but pity was no longer an option. "I do not even know if it was a boy or a girl. If I have another son or a beautiful daughter." He hung his head "I am a terrible parent, it hurts me to look at Tebald. He is painted like me but where I am black he is white and his spots are just the same color as his mother's dun coat and he has her green eyes. I see her in him and wonder how could something so beautiful come of such treachery. How can you hold such a secret from someone you love? If she had told me I would have tried to help. We all would have." He shook his short bi colored mane and sighed. "I am Majesty by the way. It is nice to know your name Alinore. It suits you."
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 2:30 pm
Ali nodded carefully. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Majesty, and I feel in my heart it suits you at heart. My mate and I had been trying for most of a year for our first children. My mate was uncertain about being a father, and I had become hopeful after helping my mother raise my nieces. Once I became pregnant at the tail end of autumn, my mate and I became excited. The baskets popped and we had three beautiful black wind daughters with starry markings, the three of them looking so alike to us and to each other that a stranger might've gotten them confused. My family bestowed on them bells, as per family tradition, silver this time. I'm the only one in my entire family with gold bells. My mate quickly warmed to them, though I was already enchanted. We turned our eyes away so briefly it should have not been possible, but we looked back, and our first-born was gone."
She took a deep breath, holding back the tears. "My mate searched for weeks on end while I cared for our remaining daughters. He spent what time he could at home with the girls, so they'd know and love their father. In the end, we both gave up on finding her. I still look for her sometimes, usually when I go to visit our daughters and my good niece, Branwen. Branwen's become my honorary first daughter in her cousin's absence. She was her mother's first angel of a child, and perhaps the only one, for all I know. When she had baskets earlier this moon, I was delighted. She can't wait for them to pop, and it feels almost as if one of my own daughters is having children."
She smiled, still a touch sadly, reaching out emotionally to this stallion whom it seemed was a good stallion who'd been twisted by grief. "I still miss her, but I cherish those I still have. I won't let anyone suffer or be saddened as I was, so long as I have the power to help them."
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