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Seyx steadily extended his wing, trying to keep himself from wincing. Further he stretched the muscles, and further, the stiffness in the tendons making what used to be an action he did without thinking something of which took the deepest concentration. The stretch was actually hurting now, but still he pressed on carefully, methodically, until the wing was almost fully extended. Then, with a slight hiss of an exhale, he folded the wing back to its ‘at rest’ position at his side, took a deep breath, and began the exercise over.

~~

It had been over two months, but Seyx still couldn’t quite wrap his head around everything that had happened. How old was he now, after all, and how long had his life been in the same predictably unpredictable pattern? Life had been so simple for so long, with no sense of permanence or responsibility to anything besides his life and his best friend. They had been almost inseparable in foalhood, and except for when he left her to hunt, they had remained so well into adulthood. They had laughed together, they had thrown themselves into reckless situations together, and they had laughed about it afterwards. Indeed, they had rather complemented each other; Lessia had been the true daredevil, the idea Soquili; it was she who came up with new things for them to do, and she who took the lead in trying them out. She had even been the first to laugh if things backfired.

Seyx, on the other hand, had been content to go with the flow. He enjoyed their adrenaline sports, but sometimes he felt he would be just as content sunning himself on a rock somewhere. He liked Lessia, though, and he enjoyed spending time with her; if she wanted to spend that time throwing herself off a cliff and seeing how close to the ground she could get before spreading her wings, he was willing to give that a try as well. Sometimes he had felt she had gone too far, and then they would have words. In those cases, Lessia had usually come around to Seyx’s viewpoint, and he had respected her all the more for it. She had protected him when they were younger, he healed her now when they were older. They were an odd pair to look at; he, a small alicorn stallion; she, a Kalona mare who towered above his head. But they had always been friends.

~~

Seyx stll couldn’t believe everything had changed so suddenly. They had been out in the woods, waterskipping across a river; this was a game they played where they had to basically ‘skip’ across the surface of the water, using their wings to control their height without sinking or lifting their feet above the water. It was tricky, and required a great deal of concentration. This was probably how they had both missed detecting the mob.

They were on Lessia before either of them really knew what was going on, a herd of enraged Soquili who attacked with hooves, horns, and teeth, crying out for vengeance against the Kalona. Seyx knew all too well what sort of fighter she could be if she needed to, but this was no fair fight. He had raced across the river, throwing himself into the fray and physically interfering with the attackers as he cried for them to back off. The attacking Soquili had done so, confused and shocked that an alicorn would be defending ‘one of those horrible, murdering beasts.’ From the mob, Seyx and Lessia had learned for the first time of the terrible happenings in the Kawani lands, how a massive herd of Kalona had attacked without warning and was spreading through the northern reaches of the land, killing indiscriminately. These Soquili had been on their way to join in the fight ; they had seen Lessia, who appeared to be a pure Kalona even though her grandfather was a wind, and had thought she was one of the herd.

However, there had been no time for any apologies. No sooner had the confusion been sorted out than the whole group, Lessia and Seyx included, had been attacked in turn by a large group of Kalona from the invading herd. There had been no time to flee, no time to do anything except grit their teeth and defend themselves. It had not been good odds; Kalona were never on equal footing with non-Kalona Soquili to begin with, in terms of strength, size, speed, and weaponry. To be attacked by a herd was any Kawani Soquili’s worst nightmare.

Seyx had seen at once how dire the situation was. He had always been the meditative one, the one who assessed the situation, the risks, the potential rewards. If he didn’t approve of something, or if he felt a certain way about something, his opinion had always been the one followed. And today, he saw a situation more dangerous than anything they had ever faced before. Lessia had minor protection in her appearance, but the Kalona would realize very quickly that she was fighting them, rather than fighting for them, and she would then become a massive target, either as a defector from the cause or simply because her size, Kalona weaponry, and obvious training made her a bigger threat. She needed her full concentration.

He knew she would try to protect him. He also knew that if she tried, they would both be done for. So in the chaos and confusion of the opening salvos of the battle, he slipped away from her to do the best he could, on his own.

~~

Needless to say, things had not gone well for Seyx. He was no fighter, and he was small to boot. But his very size helped him stay out of a few nasty situations, and his horn was a dangerous weapon regardless of his inexperience using it as such. In the end, he had gone down, slowly being crushed by the dead body of a fallen Kalona. He blacked out, overwhelmed by pain, darkness, and the stench of death.

Fortunately, Lessia was able to find him when the battle was over, and with the help of another stallion, she had pulled him out from under the mare. He had two broken legs, a broken wing, and broken ribs, as well as numerous lacerations and cuts, and he had taken a hard blow to the head when fallen, but he would survive. One of the many healers had been able to smooth out the worst of his injuries, but Seyx had been told in no uncertain terms that he needed to rest and take it easy for a while, as well as exercise his healing limbs as much as he could to insure they healed correctly. It was going to be a long rough road, but at least it existed for him.

The physical injury had only been part of the trauma of the experience, however. Lessia had also been badly injured, but the weight of her role in their involvement in the fight weighed heavily upon her. If she had been more aware of their surroundings, or if she had been paying attention at all, they would have been able to get out of their and avoid the fight. Seeing her friend so near death, thinking he WAS dead, had nearly broken her.

For a week, they had stayed together, trying to bolster each other’s spirits. But for Lessia in particular, the grief and guilt was too strong. In the end, they agreed it would be best for each of them if they parted ways for a time, to each go about their healing in the way they felt best.

~~

Seyx had never been alone for so long in his life, and he didn’t know quite what he thought. At first, the physical pain had been enough to distract him; later, the isolation was peaceful and enjoyable, only later to becoming cripplingly lonely. He never got to the point where he talked to himself, but there were times he was certainly tempted. How was he supposed to be motivated to heal, he wondered, if there was no one to heal for?

Gradually, as the weeks ticked on, he became more accepting, and even grateful for the time to himself. He had been running around for so long, it was nice to have one place to call a ‘home’ for a change, even if it was just a small clearing with a pond. Every day, he pushed himself farther in his therapy, gritting his teeth through the pain. Already, he was seeing improvement; he could walk, albeit in an ungainly fashion, and he could extend his wing to almost complete extension. It would be a long time before he could fly, but at least he could hold out hope that one day, it would again be possible. Until then, he was content. All things could, in time, be healed.

It was strange, being the patient instead of the healer. That strangeness was in many ways a balm, because it allowed Seyx something to focus on while dealing with the tedium of his physical therapy. He knew that the exercises were for his own good, that he needed to follow through with them if he ever hoped to regain his full range of motion back. Still, it was hard to do the same thing over and over and over again, with nothing but the dull throbbing of pain and a vague sense of purpose to look forward to. It was almost laughable how bored he'd become, Seyx reflected as he once again extended his damaged wing. All these years, he'd thought he was amenable to adventure; he'd never considered the possibility that perhaps he also craved it.

"Well, I suppose it was inevitable; what did I think would happen, living the life I lived? It's only natural I'm feeling a bit of cabin fever now; or perhaps it's just a knee-jerk reaction to this forced inactivity." He mused aloud to no one in particular, knowing full well that he was on his own. Still, it was nice to enjoy the benefits of conversation, even if it was just with himself. He was a good listener, if nothing else. "Though I think anyone would start feeling anxious, if they were me."

He didn't exactly know what he expected, though, other than to get through his physical therapy with (hopefully) a full physical recovery. And, hopefully, an end to the nightmares.

He winced, a response to the imagery of nightmares rather than any pain in his wing. He could work around the pain, but there had been far too many nights of late when he'd woken up in a cold sweat, screaming at the sight of a fearsome Kalona with bloodshot eyes and gleaming teeth lunging for his throat. The Kalona never looked the same; sometimes it was a mare, sometimes a stallion; sometimes there were more than one. On one particularly horrible occasion, the Kalona had looked exactly like Lessia, except for having gleaming black eyes instead of her empty white ones. He didn't know which was more unsettling, being attacked by the image of his friend or the change to her eyes.

Either way, it was the dreams that most worried him, and because of the dreams that he continued on alone. "Because it wouldn't be at all unsettling for anyone else to be woken out of a sound sleep by me screaming like a little girl."