|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 9:18 am
 Silently he stood upon the sand, eyes closed, letting the moonlight shine through his eyelids. The sound of the waves echoed softly in his ears. Alone and content, the dappled Aeri colt allowed himself to drift, the moon's weightless caress brushing all his troubles away.
He was bruised. Badly bruised. Early attempts at flying had resulted in little progress, and the cold night was being unkind to his abused muscles. Down in this sheltered bay, though, with the wind blowing gently out to sea, he was warm and safe. More flying could happen tomorrow night. No great rush. The moon would guide him.
Interrupting his meditation for only a moment or two, Vox wondered to himself who else she was watching over tonight. There had to be others out there, others beloved of the gentle moon. He had seen them from afar, but feared to approach - they were all so tall, so strong, so beautiful that he would have felt ashamed to stand beside them and try to call himself Aeri. He wished that one might instead approach him, that he might not have to further test his courage tonight. The flying, and the bruises that went along with it, had been quite enough. Besides, he was too tired to run away if any hostile creature should appear.
Perhaps it would be better if no one found him at all.
The waves murmured in the background.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 9:44 am
 The black-coated aeri soared over the bay, relishing the thermals that helped keep his bulky frame aloft. Today had been a good day, if a mostly uneventful one. Travelling along the coast by wing and by hoof was peaceful, a pleasant change from the bustle of the more inland areas he had come from.
He had encountered about as much conversation as he had that day however as he often did in an area such as D'ob. This was none. Many Nequus avoided him, intimidated by the bloed red bones that he wore upon his well-muscled body. That was all well and good in his mind for the red-maned aeri had no time for cowards.
A sigh escaped his throat and the Nequus pulled himself from thought. His orange wings were tiring again. Even with the thermals to aid him, he didn't have the stamina to stay aloft long. This was, he considered as he swooped towards the sand below, probably because of a combination of factors.
Firstly, there was the fact that he was aeri and therefore not designed for extended flight in any case. Secondly there was the skeleton he wore; it added somewhat to his weight and whilst the effects were negligible on hoof, their effect on his ability to maintain flight was appreciable.
The last factor was admitted somewhat grudgingly; his lungs were better than they had been as a foal but still didn't have anywhere near the capacity they ought.
Well, I will only remedy that by exercise and persistence, he thought as his huge hooves struck the sand and carried him a few slowly cantering paces before decelerating into an easy walk.
Pausing to catch his breath and calm his thundering heart, the brown-marked aeri cast about his surroundings. A moment later, featureless orange eyes alighted on the speckled green foal, his apparent companion on the shore.
Lucius gave a soft snort to announce his presence, if the thudding of his hooves hadn’t already alerted the youth to his approach.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 9:53 am
...Those were hooves landing upon the sand, he felt sure. Opening his eyes and turning his head towards the sound, he caught sight of the great stallion just in time to witness the snort. It seemed threatening. His heart cowered at the back of his ribcage, and he chided it gently - the moon was watching over him. Besides, he could not imply that a Nequus meant him ill simply because he found them a little frightening.
Collecting his thoughts and remembering his manners, learned mostly through watching others from afar, he bowed his head respectfully before the newcomer and struggled to keep eye contact without flinching.
"...Hail, Aeri, beloved of the moon," he managed, his young voice trembling with the effort of holding his ground. "Peace be with you..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 10:01 am
Beneath his skull helmet, Lucius smiled to himself. All foals, of course, had potential but one that didn't flee at the sight of him... that was something special. The dark-coated aeri bowed his head in return, a little respect was due to one that held his ground against obvious fear he felt.
"Greetings, young foal." The small aeri's words were strange but courteous too and after all; he was the last Nequus in the world that should judge another on strangeness.
Lucius let his bright eyes wander up to the sky and the shining silver orb that it held in it's inky black grasp. "The moon, eh?" he half stated half queried, returning his gaze to the green aeri before him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 10:14 am
Vox nodded slowly, turning his own face to the skies and letting the pale moonlight wash his coat silver-white. "Aye, the moon," he said softly. "She watches over all her children, and she loves us all no matter what we do. It saddens her when her Aeri are hurt, and when the cowardly prey upon the defenceless. She smiles and laughs with us, she leads us as we run and rejoices as we fly. She truly loves us, and it lightens her heart when we learn to love ourselves."
Turning back to the elder Aeri, Vox seemed far more at ease. "The moon," he explained, "smiled upon me at my my most helpless, my most ashamed, my most ignorant and my most inexperienced. Even though I was alone in the world at the hour of my birth, there she was, shining her light down to lead me into the world. Is it any wonder that I love her as she loves me?"
He did not expect the other to fully understand him, but nonetheless it felt good to say it aloud to someone.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 10:26 am
"I... suppose not," Lucius replied, utterly bemused by the young creatures assertions. Well, it was no stranger than any other belief when it came down to it, he supposed. If one must believe in something, it may as well be something as impressive as the moon... Interesting that he has substituted it for the love of a parent. A mother more specifically it seems.
And what had he substituted for parents? The black stallion considered this for all of a moment before settling on values of self-sufficiency, courage and power of both the mind and the body. Whilst his values had not loved him as parents did a foal, or as the young colt thought the moon loved him; they had shaped him and made him what he was. That was a good portion of the function of a parent, was it not?
"Tell me, what is your name and where do you come from?" the stallion asked, moving away from the confusing topic so that he could think on it some before having to discuss it again. "I am Lucius and originally I hail from the west but my hooves and wings have carried me to many places since my birth and I claim affinity with no one place in this world."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 10:45 am
"My name is Vox, mighty Lucius," the colt replied, "voice of the night. I have not wandered far from my tree to come here - it is just at the southern edge of Shrilal, up on the land and away from the cliffs. And I must confess that I cannot yet fly. I have been trying to do so for many weeks, all to little avail." He sighed. "I lack the endurance for it. My wings will not hold me up - I cannot keep them steady. I have fallen many times tonight, and doubtless shall again tomorrow night."
He shifted, trying to ease the ache in his bruised shoulders. "Still, at least I am still whole and relatively unhurt. Had I tried to fly here as so many greater beasts do, I should have dashed myself to pieces upon the rocks by now."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 10:56 am
Lucius nodded, he thought he had observed something stiff in the green colt's stance. "Learning to fly is not easy; I myself did not master it until I was near grown... but I learned later than most." At the foal's, Vox's, age he'd scarce been able to move above a walk let alone take to the air.
And mighty? well, so his muscled form must seem to one so young and seemingly inexperienced at dealing with other Nequus. It was pleasing to have his strength noted so early on. Oh proud creature, he mock admonished himself; it was not, he felt, a false pride so there was no shame in it. He had come far and more than far from what he had been born as.
"It is not so hard once you have managed even a few seconds of flight for a few nights in a row. The muscles need to become strong first and then durable and then a little stronger and then a little more durable... well, it goes on from there. It is better to learn in the summer months, too, when heat comes up from the earth because..." The stallion’s words ran out and he snorted in annoyance with himself as he scrabbled to bring them back.
They came, but only grudgingly. "Heat rises and so puts a little lift under your wings," he went on eventually. "The ocean and land nearby is especially good at this."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 11:25 am
A little overwhelmed, Vox took in the information as best he could with a grateful nod. "I will try to do as you say, sir," he said earnestly. "I want so much to fly - I want to do myself proud, to make the moon smile, to feel that I can stand among the others of our great race without being put to shame."
More than anything else, though, he wanted to be someone worthy of love. Not that he particularly felt he was unworthy of it, but...still, he wanted to feel that he deserved every bit of any good fortune that came his way.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 11:32 am
"Flying is good," Lucius confirmed, tossing his head to throw his ruddy forelock out of his eyes. "Hard work though, especially if you see fit to carry around excess weight as I and fat, lazy creatures do."
The aeri gave an internal shudder of disgust; lumping himself in with such creatures, however loosely, was distasteful. Still, he worked at being strong enough to carry the weight of the elemental's bones into the sky with him and that was more than the slothful did with their paunch.
"And believe me," he went on, turning his attention back to Vox, "you already outstrip many aeri that I have met fleetingly, which is a good achievement for one so young."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 11:42 am
Vox resisted the urge to give a little leap as his heart swelled with pride. "Truly? I thank you for your kind words - but tell me, sir, is our race not so mighty as I have been led to believe? Are so many of us grown idle and apathetic when all seems provided to us?"
It was an unsettling thought. Some tribute that would be to the moon, if the Aeri no longer took care of the bodies with which they had been so graciously gifted. And what of the wide world they had to experience - what of that? Was it truly better to laze around all day?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 11:50 am
Lucius snorted and flicked his ears in an equine shrug. "Some are as lazy as fat cats, some are... bearable and some again truly work to maintain their bodies although they do seem to be few and far between. Many are happy with a soft life of sweet grass and fruit and sleep under a warm sun or even under the moon."
Perhaps I have found someone worth spending time with, he at least seems to appreciate the value of strength. Too few who the morbidly adorned aeri met were like that; too few by far.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 12:11 pm
Vox was saddened by this. "They...would sleep under the moon? Lie there useless and inert while she cries out to see them run and laugh and rejoice in the world? ...I only hope that at least some of the ones you saw were sleeping off an illness, that it might not be such a disgrace to them."
He looked out over the sea, trying to take his mind off such a troubling subject. "...Do you think, Lucius," he ventured, "that any Nequus could cross the Ocean?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 12:22 pm
The black-coated aeri blinked, blindsided by the change of subject. Well, it was probably for the best; the child clearly didn't want to know that many aeri he had seen to be predominatly diurnal.
"Humm..." he said into the silence, reserving the next words in the conversation for himself while he considered the question.
"I have no idea," he said eventually. "I have not heard of it being done but that is not to say that it is not possible. Nobody even knows how wide it is so it is not possible to give a yay or a nay; perhaps it never ends." The stallion contemplated the gently breaking waves for a few moments longer.
"I think there must be an end to it somewhere," he went on eventually, as much to himself as to anyone else. "Too far, too cold and too rough to swim whatever strange shore it leads to. Too far to fly, too; certainly for aeri or bae and probably for jala too... yet there must be a way."
The orange-eyed equine couldn't have said why he thought it was so but a thought once lodged in his mind was hard to shift even with hard evidence, let alone ignorant, uncited assertions to the contrary. "I think it might just be possible..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 10:38 am
Lucius' words seemed to fill him with a sense of purpose. Turning slowly back to look at the tall stallion, eyes lingering upon the bone armour that encased the powerful body, Vox spoke.
"Then I wish to cross it, Lucius," he said, quietly but fervently. "I wish to know what is on the other side, to carry the message of the moon to any creatures I might find there. This world has only so much space to roam, and my heart longs for adventure and experience. I would know what lies beyond the Ocean."
It was a strangely uplifting thought - almost like remembering some wonderful dream for long enough to record it.
"...But I suppose," he added, much of his amusement at himself finding its way into his tone, "that I should learn to fly first. Do you not think?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
