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 Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 2:32 pm
Isenath stared at the basket, nostrils flaring with suppressed excitement every time it rocked or made a sound. This was it! Their child was emerging. She looked to one side, seeing her mate Quinta practically on the tips of her hooves with anticipation. This was the moment they'd waited for. Isenath hadn't known what to expect when she wished upon the star, but it still was hard to believe that it had paid off. Their own little foal, tucked away in a basket nestled within a nest of shells that they had assembled on the beach. They'd kept vigil over the basket ever since, watching and waiting for when the foal inside might emerge. Now, it seemed like that time was close...
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 2:40 pm
A small squeaking sound came from within the basket. Quinta was so on edge that she jumped when she heard it, earning her a skeptical look from Isenath. The tip of her finned tail twitched with energy. She was overjoyed at the idea of their child emerging, but part of her was also worried. Isenath claimed that this basket came from the stars and spirits, but was that really true? A hidden part of her wondered... what would Isenath do if the foal didn't have fins?
She allowed herself one anxious look at her mate. Isenath had always made her positions clear: That aquatic soquili were superior to terrestrial ones. If their child was a land-dwelling breed, what would happen? Would Isenath reject it? Pain tugged at Quinta's heart to think about it. Losing Isenath would break her, but she wouldn't abandon a foal either. The basket rocked and the lid shifted, becoming slightly ajar. Quinta stared at the sliver of striped pelt the light fell upon, and prayed that the creature inside had fins.
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 3:08 pm
The foal blinked, squinting. Above her, the first sunlight unfiltered by basket weaving fell to her eyes. It was bright enough to blind her momentarily, hiding the world in a blaze of white. After a moment, colors shapes began to reappear. She saw blue sky above, and two figures standing over her.
She pushed herself upwards, wobbly legs shaking, but holding her weight. The lid of the basket was pushed aside entirely as she did this, rolling off to lay against the sand. The two figures became more clear, one orange and one pink. She stared at them, hardly comprehending. She didn't know who they were, but they felt familiar to her.
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 3:13 pm
Isenath stomped the ground with excitement. The foal emerged! Up stood a little striped child, a filly! They had a filly! Isenath's eyes traced over her. There all over her body were the stripes of Quinta, yet some of the colors were in Isenath's own shades. She felt a moment of awe overcome her. How could such a perfect creature have come into being? Their daughter had been blessed by the water, with fins limp from confinement hanging off of her. The only thing that she didn't understand was-
"Her tail!" gasped Isenath, seeing the bony tail unwinding as the filly shook herself. "What's wrong with it?"
She immediately stepped forward, leaning down to stare at the tail and wonder if their child was born into injury.
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 3:20 pm
Quinta's eyes shot to the filly's tail as she heard the fear in Isenath's voice. She hurried to the other side of the filly, giving her a side to lean against as she examined the tail from closer.
It looked like bone. It was as if the tail of a chewed up fish came from her where a fin ought to be. Bony spurs protruded from her legs as well, and Quinta's stomach dropped to see spinal bones upon her back.
"Isenath," she croaked, grief and panic threatening to overwhelm her. She had heard of foals with birth defects before, and knew that many of those that had them did not survive for long...
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 3:27 pm
The two figures converged on the foal, and suddenly she was surrounded by warmth and voices. She heard the pain and fear, but the proximity of her mothers was more important. She smiled as they nuzzled her, and let out a small whinny of joy. She tried to step forward out of her basket, but one of her tiny hooves got caught on the brim. She spilled out in an uncoordinated heap, landing on the nest of shells with a squeak.
That hurt! Her face started to screw up in unhappiness, but then she noticed what she was lying on. The shells that surrounded her basket were beautiful and varied in color and design. Her eyes fixed on a large flat one, shining with a rainbow of colors. Her pain forgotten, she smiled again, amazed by the beauty that she could never have imagined.
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 3:36 pm
"Hey, hey hey hey!" Isenath's heart skipped a beat as the filly fell out of her basket. She immediately scrambled to her side, checking her over for new injuries. She was astonished to see that not only was the filly unhurt, but she was smiling.
"Be careful," she snapped, agitated. Then, she paused, realizing how silly she sounded. It was the filly's first steps. She didn't know how to be careful, and probably didn't even understand words yet. Isenath felt very strange. She cared for Quinta so deeply, but she'd never fussed over her like this. She'd never felt the same catch in her breath like when the filly took her first tumble. Whatever she was feeling, it was something entirely new to her that she didn't entirely understand.
"Be careful," she repeated, more gently. She looked back to the tail and bone spurs that were causing her and Quinta anxiety. To her surprise, the bone tail moved like it was covered in healthy flesh. It twitched and lashed as the filly started to roll back to her feet. What sort of magic was this?
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 3:43 pm
Quinta echoed Isenath's words, with her own fluttery breath. "Careful, careful now." She nudged her head against the filly's sides and helped her get up again. She could tell that Isenath was uncharacteristically concerned, but was too full of her own thoughts to be able to contemplate the change.
She too saw the tail moving, but her worries were still strong. "Isenath, her tail. Why is it like that? Look at all her bones sticking out..." There was something else odd about the filly, spots of hardened orange sticking out from her fur. What was that?
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 4:34 pm
Her... tail? Her mothers' words combined with their concerned nuzzling at her tail helped the meaning come to the filly. They were looking at her tail! She followed their attention and craned her head over her back to take a look at it. She saw it there, but didn't understand what the fuss was about. Confused, she waggled it and laughed to hear the rattling sound. She smiled to her mothers, wanting to see if they were amused too.
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 4:42 pm
Despite herself, Isenath let out a snort of surprised laughter when the filly rattled her skeleton tail. Clearly, she was able to move it, and it didn't hurt her to do so. For the first time since seeing the bony tail, Isenath felt herself calm down about it.
"It must be natural," she said, watching as the filly delightedly waved her tail in different patterns. "It's like those mers with tentacles for manes that we met. She's just different." She tried to make sense of it. Had the deep ocean gods given a bone tail to their daughter as a blessing? "Maybe she is destined to serve the great old bone serpent of the deep," she mused, staring at their daughter with new intrigue.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 6:28 pm
The filly seemed so full of health and joy that Quinta found her fear leaving her. She finally relaxed, looking at their daughter with happiness so deep that it brought tears to her eyes. "She has your fins." Isenath's fins, her own stripes. Quinta strained to understand how such a miracle was possible.
"What should we name her?"Isenath was quick to respond. "Yub Shoggoth," she said, bringing out the name of one of her favorite watery deities."No way!" laughed Quinta, and she was delighted to see the filly laughing with her. "Look at her! We have to name her something pretty. Something like... Lorelei."
"Lorelei," repeated Isenath, with a pleased nod. "Her name is Lorelei."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2015 3:18 pm
Lorelei was swimming. She bounced around in the warm shallow water of the bay, paddling out to where her hooves couldn't reach the sandy bottom, though her mothers still stood without problem. She ducked her head underwater and delightedly watched the fish swim by. She let out a bubble of air and, just like her parents had taught her, let herself sink to the bottom. As a kelpi, she could hold her breath for a lot longer than a normal foal. She could stay under plenty long enough to see the fish go darting around from a much better perspective.
Most of the fish were small, translucent with a streak of silver on their side. "Shiners," they were called. They weren't much good to eat, but she saw a bigger one that looked a lot tastier. The big fish seemed skittish about Isenath, but it didn't have a problem with her. It flicked one way, then the next, and then it passed in front of her a body length away.
In a rush of bubbles, Lorelei lunged for it. She snapped in the water, but the fish was faster. It swam away, and she surfaced in a bubbling huff. "Teach me how to catch a fish!" she demanded, her irritation making her petulant.
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Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2015 3:21 pm
"It does seem like about time," said Quinta cheerily, eyes half-shut against the bright and warm sunlight beaming down from above. "And then, Momma Isenath could take it easy!" She gave Isenath a playful poke with her tail. Isenath was by far the more skilled hunter, so she caught most of the fish that went to Lorelei.
"Hmmm.." Isenath made a quiet, but critical sound. She'd been growing increasingly concerned lately, and Lorelei's most recent attempt just made her more so. She had come to the realization that the bone tail, while an interesting anatomical feature, was not very good for swimming. Most kelpi foals could already catch small fish at this age. She suspected that it was Lorelei's tail that was hindering her progress.
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Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2015 3:23 pm
"Please?" asked Lorelei hopefully. Her mothers did a good job of keeping her fed, but like any growing filly, she had big appetite. She knew that if she learned how to catch her own food then she could eat whenever she wanted! She was already getting hungry just thinking about it.
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 2:15 pm
"All right," said Isenath, thoughtful. "But you'll have to listen closely and try hard..."
And then, the lessons began!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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