Time is a funny concept. Things happen, creatures move on, and life continues to expand in its infinite path to the eventual end. To this Allan was experiencing tenfold. Not exactly an existential crisis, but a crisis of sorts to say the very least. Through time he met Lyssa. Through time brought them both foals. Through time Lyssa was a fleeting dalliance and their baskets with her through no fault of his own. Through time he met Lavanya, thinking that he had found the one, only to find that once again, the dalliance was fleeting. Through time, now in the present, one of the very foals he created with Lyssa had been found. Years had aged the stallion well, and so it did to his daughter as well. As Allan stood upon the edge of change, he found himself nervous but also excited at the prospect of being reunited with his blood.With a turn of his body away from the past Allan began his journey south towards the herd lands that had taken in his daughter. Given her a home that he could not, love that he had not been able to do, a life that he would have loved to have given her himself. But time was not his friend in that aspect, and so Allan had to respect the fact that while she was his daughter, she was also a stranger. He didn’t even know her name yet, just knew that she existed and was in a powerful family herd that fiercely protected their own. Hopefully, they would accept him enough to let him have a relationship with her. Whatever she was okay with he would be okay with as well. There was no other option and he would honor whatever wishes she wanted and felt was best.
‘Everything is going to be okay,’ he told himself as he travelled, ‘I’m sure she’ll understand.’
What was she like? What was her favorite color? Her favorite snacks? Her favorite way to pass the time? Had she found love? Had children? Was he a grandfather now? A great grandfather even? So many questions, so few answers, but maybe, just maybe, she’d let him into her life and give him a chance to be the father he had always wanted to be. And if she had children? Be the grandfather he had always wanted to be too. The journey was long, sometimes rainy, sometimes windy, some days longer than others. But eventually, he made it to the edge of his daughter’s familial home. To this, he patiently waited under a large willow tree, allowing the light breeze to cool his skin, willing his nerves to calm down enough so he wouldn’t make a complete fool of himself.
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Lyra was incredibly nervous. When one of her siblings had come to her with word that they had found her father she didn’t quite know what to think. On one hand she was elated that they had found her blood relation, at least on one side of her family. But on the other hand, she was wary. She had been alone for so long with only her friend Zival to keep her company since she was a filly. His family took her in originally to make sure she was loved and fed. And then she was found by her adoptive mother, Bella. And taken in by her and her mate Azumoth. There she found her place in the world, grew into the mare she was now, and eventually found her mate. And now, as a mother to three incredible sons, she found a new means for living. Her family was everything. But here she was now, making her way to meet the stallion that was her biological father, with so many questions. But the most important one was why he abandoned her. Why did he leave her?
Why was she alone?
What happened to split them apart?
“You okay, Lyra?” Zival’s voice broke Lyra out from her internal thoughts.
“Yeah, I’ll be okay.”
“Having second thoughts? You don’t have to meet him you know.”
She found her eyes closing as she sighed, feeling Zival climb up her neck and settling on the top of her head between her ears to look down at her, “No, he’s made his way all the way here. At the very least I should meet him, see what he’s like. Hear what he has to say.”
Zival hummed, “understandable, however, I wouldn’t blame you if you found it to be too much for now turned around.”
“No, no. Truly, I’m okay Zival. I’m just nervous.”
Zival settled back down and stayed silent then, leaving Lyra to her thoughts and feelings as they continued towards the edge of their herd’s territory. She knew her father had been told to meet her under the large willow near the river’s edge. There she would eventually come face to face with her past. And maybe her future? Lyra just wasn’t sure. Was there anger? Maybe? It had been so long she had no memories of that time. Should she feel angry? Should she not? What was appropriate? It was all so frustrating. Her gaze found the river then, it’s soft waves washing up on the rocks. As she followed the edge of it her eyes eventually landed on that large willow her sibling talked about, and the gray stallion standing under it. Lyra felt her throat constricting and the light pat of Zival’s comforting presence on her crown.
She could do this.