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 Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 7:54 pm
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 8:17 pm
Firebrand was far from the village, and even further from what some might call home. The village happened to be an easy target for pilfering items of value, and well, home is just where his rump rested. He possessed no sense of a true home. It just wasn't in his nature. The village was somewhere he frequented to expand his possessions. That, and any black market he could find to sell off his acquired belongs.
This week had been unsuccessful in finding things to borrow. Across his back, lay an empty sack. Thieving sometimes required patience. Even then, he was growing bored of being patient and looking for the right moment to take something of worth. So far, he had only made off with a few apples from an orchard near the river. Even then, it didn't quite feel like stealing. He has followed the river by night, and the trees by day. Firebrand didn't like to be seen. He practiced stealth, even when it wasn't required of him.
The air had grown cool, and the sun hung low in the sky. Evening was fast approaching, as was the cover of the forest. Below his hooves, he could feel sand hidden beneath the fallen leaves. He had been to the beach before. It offered little to no places to hide, should one need to. He decided he would walk to the forests end, and turn around. After a while, he began to hear the white noise of the ocean. An eyebrow raised. Such a sound could muffle out other sounds. It wasn't a pleasant sound, but it wasn't unpleasant to him either. Background noise helped him to do his job more than a few times.
As he followed under the canopy of trees, the ground gave way to more and more sand. Till at last he stood at the forest edge, framed by a giant old oak tree to the front of him. Grey moss fell from the trees in curly wisps, that tugged and played in the wind. Firebrand did not note it's beauty, nor the scene of ocean and rock that lay ahead. Not the kind of detail he appreciated. What he did notice however, were two little baskets, nestled at the bottom of the oak. Their vibrant colors made them hard not to miss! They weren't hidden, protected, nothing. Just, sitting there unmanned. He took a deep breath, cocked his head back, then began to turn around, not paying them even a second mind.
That is, until he heard the soft sound of hooves pushing into the sand. He ducked for cover behind the tree line, and watched.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 8:44 pm
Ayelet Hashachar. The star gazer. Often, the sunset stained mare took walks on her own, to reflect on things. Self-reflection was a hobby of hers. Some might call it day dreaming, but for her, it was so much deeper. She thought about her lifemate, her family, and ways to improve her day-to-day life. She longed after her daughter, and her son, which were far from home. What quality of life and love did they possess, and when would she see them again? Her thoughts lingered on this one often. Other times, she thought about the past, and her adventures with her lifemate. Traveling, dangers, and falling in love. Tonight, her thoughts wondered to her other son, and the lovely mare at his side. Hiruki was her youngest, and the only that had choose to live close to his parents. His girlfriend was quite a wonderful mare. The two always made her happy when she saw them together. She wasn't a clingy mother, and encouraged their relationship to grow in anyway she could. Mostly, she checked up on them, and left them plenty of time to figure things out on their own. Hiruki had been with Hydro for a while now. She didn't want to press the idea of foals, but she did wonder if they would have any.
Ayelet gazed up at the stars and smiled a warm smile. The tide ebbed as much as her thoughts. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of parents they would be, and what type of grandparents her and Mizu would be. She sighed, imagining nothing but good things.
The long walk reached the point where she would soon turn around. Ahead lay a rocky jetty that divided the beach. An old majestic oak grew close by, and was the point where she always headed back. As she got closer, she took her head out of the stars and looked to the tree. It was such a gorgeous mother tree. Her head tilted to the side in a twitch. Baskets? This is a first. She craned her neck around, then looked the other way, then back behind her. Where were the parents? This concerned her. No basket should be left alone!
"Hello?" she called out.
"Is anybody there?" Her lips pursed together, and she began to walk round the other side. Nothing. Not even a hoof-print in the sand. This was all very peculiar to her. The rare frown formed on her face. She looked out to the rocks and squinted to see if she could see anything. "Hmmm." Could the parents have gotten hurt? Or stuck? The rocks were treacherous. It's the reason she didn't travel across them alone. One could twist a hoof, or slip.
She looked at the sweet little baskets, and smiled. "Where are your parents?" she spoke softly to them. As it would happen, this wasn't the first time she had found an abandoned basket. She already knew without a doubt, she would take care of them if they had been abandoned. "Don't you worry. I'll take care of you." she nuzzled the sun colored basket, then the one of ocean blue. Aside from the fact that they were obviously mini's, they had resemblance in color, to that of her own family. "Maybe you were meant to be my own." she pondered out loud. My own was a term of endearment, used for family. She huffed off the notion. As much as she would love the pitter-patter of little hooves, parents were such an important part of ones life. And these two mini's had parents she needed to search for!
Finding a fallen palm branch, she laid it on top of the baskets. She decided she would walk to the rocks and come back. If she couldn't find the parents, she would sit with them till they came back. The rocks weren't but a minute or two away.
"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" she called out again as she began to walk away. She turned back around, looking at the baskets, sitting there alone under the palm. Half the palm could still be seen as she walked away. Good.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 9:25 pm
From the shadows he watched as the sky poured itself into the form of a mare. She could never hide in the shadows the way he did, with such a bright coat. Firebrand didn't move a muscle as he watched her. Soquili watching was a past time of his. It's how he learned if they had anything of worth. For a split instance, he thought the mother of the baskets had returned.
She called out.
The hair on his coat rose in alarm. Even the very wisps that flamed out from his legs and tail, stood on end. He thought she might of been calling out to him. He could feel his heart start to race. It had been since his early days as a thief, that he had been caught. He took a deep breath. Even if caught in the shadows, he hadn't stolen anything.
He relaxed when she started talking to the baskets, asking where the parents were. They weren't hers either, and she was unawares of his presence. He paced his breathing, remaining quiet. His eyebrow flinched as she continued to talk to the baskets. What a loon.. he thought. But then, she said words that caused his attention to snap. He looked at her with sharp eyes. "...my own." She intended to keep the baskets! The baskets he had found first! Never-you-mind he hadn't wanted them.
His eyes looked to the left, as he picked his brain for a moment. What in the world would he do with a basket? Less so, what's inside the basket? He furrowed his lips, and leaned more into the shadows. If the game was to start, he definitely didn't want to be seen. Firebrand wanted what she had claimed. Little did he know, her claim, was one of family, not of possession. Blood was important to his family, so the thought of adopting a meek foal outside ones bloodline, was beyond him.
Firebrand watched with satisfaction as the stranger placed a palm over the two baskets.
I still see you. He grinned devilishly towards the two prizes. Was she planning to leave them there?! Oh, this was going to be too easy.
He waited till the sound of her hooves were gone, then creeped up to the baskets. He stayed on the back end of the oak, and gave a quick peer around the tree. The mare wasn't as far as he hoped. She had stopped walking, and was searching around the rocks. He leaned down, and pulled the sack off his back, from under his wings. He was in a rush, and popped off one of his feathers as he did. He paid it no mind. Carefully looking back around the tree one more time, bag ready, he saw that the mare looked like she had exhausted her means of searching, and would head back this way! s**t! Reaching under the palm, he slid the bag into the sand, and up under the fire colored basket. He did so with little to no movement of the palm branch, moving the satchel gingerly, then pulling it out and away. Taking the other basket was too risky, since the palm would fall to the ground, and the mare might see that happen. It would have to hold it's place, to give the appearance that both baskets were there, so the mare didn't run back instead of walking.
Done. slipping away back into the shadows, he twisted the bag, then hoisted it over his shoulder in one fluid motion. This part, he was no armature on, even if the contents of the bag were new to him. The grit of sand in his mouth from where the bag had shoveled a good bit in tow with the basket, did not stop him.
Vanishing into the forest, he moved quickly, to distance himself from the mare and the other basket. Quickly, but not running. The sound of stampeding hooves would surely cause alarm. The whole thing had gone a little haphazardly. He hadn't time to seriously think all this through. What's more, even as night was falling, he couldn't very well fly without means to secure his package. Dropping the bag would be...unfortunate. At the least, he thought of this precaution, in spite of not thinking of the well being of the life in the basket. He made haste by hoof.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 10:00 pm
Ayelet looked out to the waters as she walked. Water, sea foam, and waves that reached towards the setting sun. That's all she saw. Nobody was swimming in the waters. She glanced up and down the rocks that stuck out like an arm into the ocean. Natives had placed those rocks, to help break the strong currents. That made this side of the beach swimmable, and fishable. The natives had all left for the day with night time coming. Maybe one of them had left the baskets?
She stopped before she got to the rocks. This seemed futile. Nobody was out here, and when she called out, her voice was snuffed out by the wind. She would spend the night with the baskets, and hope that the caretakers/parents would return. She had the dire need to be back with the baskets. She poked her head back to look at them. She could see the edge of the palm sticking past the oak, but not much else at this distance. The palm lay in tact. (The bright yellow horn that poked out from the tree just beforehand, for a second time, had gone unseen.) She turned back to the rocks, and called out a final time. "Hello?!" she shouted as loud as she could, but again the sound didn't travel far. She sighed, and turned around to head back to the baskets.
Eyes like gold coins, flickered over the sand as she walked, and back to the palm. Her mind lost in thought of the mystery of the baskets. She didn't look to her feet often, but this was one of those times where she felt troubled enough to do so. The thought of a mother not wanting her foal, was something she would never understand, if that was the case.
Coming up under the mushroom of branches, she sucked her breath in and gasped. The palm hung far too close to the ground on one side. Something wasn't right. Unless it had blown off partially, but the wind wasn't that heavy. She walked up to the hidden baskets, and scooted the palm off. As she did, she could feel the naked space where the orange-red basket had been, and her heart sunk before she could see it with her own eyes. "Aww." she cried, as her heart broke seeing the one basket now, instead of two. It looked so alone. A single feather of a deep blood red was on the ground a few feet away. Had the parent returned to retrieve only one, in a moment of doubt? She followed hoof prints in the sand, that lead into the forest. Poor child. Now, it really was abandoned. But maybe they would come back?
Walking over to the forest, she called out. "Please. Don't leave! I can help you!" she sounded so desperate. "Come back please!...your baby." her voice broke, and she turned back to the basket, and wept for the child.
The thought of thievery hadn't even crossed her mind, since she had seen, and adopted, and abandoned soquili before. Livius was his name. She had raised him when she was still young herself, long before meeting Mizu.
Walking over to the basket, she blinked off the tears, and forced out a smile. "No matter now, we shall do what's right for you." She nuzzled the basket, pushing it out from the tree. If she was going to lay next to it, it needed to be away from the uncomfortable roots of the towering oak. Daintily, she folded her leg in, and curled herself around the basket. To help shield it from the elements, she flipped her tail up over the bluebell basket. Tucking the basket in close, she settled in for the night. Taking the basket home, would be better, but she wanted to wait, and give the parents a chance to return. Hopefully, her family didn't worry about her too much. It was known that she liked to cat nap here. Her thoughts went to them, as she willed her warmth to the basket before her.
What a day this had turned out to be..
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