When Red-stained Blossom first heard the song, it was from a very far way away. She decided to follow it, anyway, "for Watch Me's sake," just in case it was an Acha he could canvass into the Royal Rainbow Troupe - for the singing was really rather good. Truth be told, from the fact that she could hear it even from so far away, she was already pretty sure it wasn't an Acha – and though the high notes did soar, from the timbre of the lower register, she would have bet her left eye teeth it was a Kiokote (she supposed it came from all the plainsrunning they did, the suggestion of the barrel chest in the rumbling of their lower notes; from the diaphragm and all that), and therefore utterly useless to Watch Me. No, she followed because she was bored. Bored bored bored bored. Watch Me had wanted flowers for tonight's performance, and since it was just flowers, and the puppies had been having such a good time romping with Tender, she had decided a quick excursion by herself would've been fine. It was not. The very specific flowers that Watch Me had wanted (sprigs now firmly tucked into the vines strapped across her back) turned out to be miles away, she hadn't met a single Kin the whole time, and without the familiar patter of little paws beside her, she was starting to feel like the only being left in this world – ergo, BORED.And so she followed the song. It took her quite a long time, but eventually it got louder, and louder – and now it sounded like it was right on top of her...but nobody was there? There were shadowy trees all around, and no sign of Kin. Still, the song trilled on.
"Hello?" she called. The song stopped.
"Hello?" she leaned her hooves against a nearby trunk, peering upwards.
"Careful down belo-WHOOOOAAAHHH!"
The sudden words were heralded by a Kiokote falling out of the branches onto her."AAAAHHHH!!!" Rouge screamed as they rolled over and over into the muck.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!" the Kiokote concurred until they finally stopped, tangled in a soggy heap. After a brief struggle – Swamp, the Kiokote had some mane. – Rouge finally extracted herself and staggered to her hooves.
"WHAT," she drew a deep breath and exclaimed, "WERE YOU DOING?!"
Riot beamed brightly as she sprang upright and shook out her mane, "Didn't you see the fruit on that tree? Looked like a right treat – took me a bit to get all the way up there, but then it didn't quite work out, eh?"
"Which is not the best thing to do when you're expecting!"
"Expecting what?"
She paused.
"You don't know?" she finally said.
"Know what?"
"You're pregnant."
The interplay of emotions - primarily shock - that crossed Riot’s face was a sight to behold, but they eventually settled on dawning realisation.
"Ohhhh, right," she said, nodding slowly, "I did have that thing with Cockerel..."
Suddenly turning awkward, she stirred the water with a scuffing hoof.
"I should’ve thought about that - I mean. Wow. I’m a right mess all over the place myself. What would I do with kids?"
Rouge shrugged, amusement tugging at the corner of her mouth, which was a tad unfair - if she hadn’t been running with The Royal Rainbow Troupe, she’d likely have said just about the same thing when she’d had her daughters.
”Well,” she helpfully opined, ”there’s always the Mothers Club. Lovely bunch of ladies. Crazy about kids. They’ll take anyone. Nice place too - a bunch of miles, uhhh, northwest of here?”
Relief spread over the face of the simple soul.
"Yeaaah," she brightened, "I could do that. That’d be nice! Let someone who knows what they’re doing take care of the tykes. I’d drop by from time to time."
She threw a sheepish glance at Rouge, almost as if seeking validation, "I wouldn’t have been a good mom anyway."
Rouge smiled placidly. She never judged (except when she did).
”Tell you what,” she said, with acceptable levels of sympathy, ”I’ll bless you, the kids will be fine.”
”Bless?” Riot perked up, ”Are you one of those...oh, what was it the Kimeti said...Legendaries?”
”I sure am!” Rouge sang, already starting to prance circles around the doe, ”And I’m gonna bless your children good! Motherfather, hear my plea, this songbird needs a blessing. May her babes grow strong as she, and never be...left guessing. May their voices be as sweet, their feathers be as fancy - but, may, unlike their mother fleet, they be more common-sensey.”
”HA! Good one,” Riot laughed, the worry rolling off like a boulder, ”good one, you’re not bad! Well, thank you very kindly for your directions and your lovely blessing. Perhaps you’ll run into my kids someday - and you’ll know if they did turn out more common-sensey! Goodbye!”
And off she went, loping along with a song on her lips once more. Rouge stared after that retreating figure, somewhat bemused.
”Well,” she said to herself, ”that was interesting. But tis a far better thing that I have done - er, or something like that anyway. I daresay I feel better about this day already! And after all that trouble with the flowers I certainly needed a - THE FLOWERS.”
And that, naturally, was when she discovered the carefully tucked sprigs had all been crushed and muddied, and, with an impotent cry and funny little jig of rage, she set back off whence she came to start the day all over again.
END
