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 Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:20 pm
"You know, Papa, you don't HAVE to walk just because I'm walking. I'm a big girl; I think that I can handle the sight of you flying off without me!" The comment, delivered in an amused tone with the barest hint of laughter, could have just as easily been made by father as daughter, so similar were both Soquilis in phrasing and intonation. However, Saiena's voice still had pitch in it's side, and one only had to listen to that to know who was talking.
The two Soquilis were strolling along the edge of the woods, Saiena's dainty frame making even a stallion as delicate as her father look imposing. This had been a long day...ever since Saiena had reached full maturity, she had been spending as much time out and exploring as she could. What was exceptional about THIS journey was that her father was with her...or rather, that she was with him. Now that both of his kids were grown, Safi had slipped back into the mantle of being single and carefree...which basically meant he was now free to come and go, not really anything else.
But today, he'd decided to go see how things were going with his neice and Saiena, upon learning that fact, decided to go along. She'd never met Amoena, after all, but had heard about both her and her brother Kwahu while growing up.
Safi had been more than willing to bring Sai along, if a little surprised at her sudden interest; however, even though the trip was longer by ground than it had been by air, he'd had a good time. Talking to his daughter as a grown mare was something he needed to get used to, though!
Grinning at her words, Safi reached out and gave her a swat on the nose. "And leave you out here, alone and lost? What kind of father would that make me, eh Brat? Have some appreciation for my morals!"
Ducking her head away in reaction from the swat, Sai stuck her tongue out. "So you DO have some decency; and here I thought that you thought I'd just get mad if you were flying!"
"Well, you HAVE gotten mad about it before..."
"Yeah, when I was a FOAL!" Laughing, Sai moved over to give her father an affectionate nuzzle, light eyes dancing. "Which, in case you haven't noticed...I'm NOT anymore."
Innocent as the comment was, Safi couldn't help the wistfulness that crept into both his face and tone when he replied. "No, no you're not...." And how OLD that made him feel!
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:56 pm
Not to far outside the Kawani Village a pair of horses stood taking turns kicking at an old and baddly beaten tree. The smaller of the two tried to kick the tallest brach as his sister had but couldn't miss and wound up tumbling over laughing. The light blue mare rolled her eyes and trotted over holding her head high very proud of his attempt.
"You have to remember that you can't hit things higher then you without jumping." She said pulling of the short black mane of the younger. The little leopard spotted boy pulled away with a half annoyed expression across his face. He liked playing with his sister but he hated her pulling on his hair. It hurt.
He leapt to his feet then charged at his sister with a playful smirk. He laughed harder when she sidestepped him letting him race off. "You have to be faster Ame!!" He cried over his shouldar with a playful flick of his short stump of his tail. The wind on his face was pure magic as he ran and he barely noticed the pair approaching. The young colt skid to a halt and whinneyed loudly to alert his sister before turning to run crashing into his sisters long legs.
"Ame! Ame!" He cried ducking under her for protection. "Help!" Amoena nudged him with her leg then began to glare ready to attack whatever scared Ayden. She laughed when she saw who it was.
"It's okay kid, he's cool." She said stepping to the side to get away from her little brother. "Uncle Safi, what's up?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:14 pm
Even though they were in the right general area, Safi hadn't been expecting to encounter his neice so suddenly. However, that didn't mean he couldn't be thrilled!
"Well, if it isn't my favorite neice! And not too much, actually; just thought I'd see about introducing my two favorite girls to each other, at long last." Grinning, Safi moved so that Amoena could see Saiena, who'd been on his other side. "Saiena, this is your cousin Amoena; Amey, same thing in reverse."
A bit haphazard of an introduction, to be sure, but no big surprise to Saiena, who stepped around her father with a grin to greet the other mare. "Hey Amoena! All this time since I've hatched, and this is the first time I finally get to meet you. Don't blame Papa, though; it's not his fault he's daft. But who's this?" Smiling, she looked from the mare to the colt, one brow arching curiously. "Another cousin?"
Blinking, Safi looked in the direction Sai was, not having actually registered the colt's presence until now. "By George, there's another foal! Hello there, Kiddo; Who might you be?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:27 pm
"Papa?" She asked raising a brow at Safi. The girl was blue, yes, but other then that she bore no resemblance. That and juding by how Xantir acted about his joke she was fairly certain her uncle didn't look at mares fondly. Either way she gave a slight smile trying to be polite while she wasn't so sure. "Nice to meet you..." Her tone was slightly cold making the little colt next to her flinch.
Golden eyes looked up at Amoena curiously asking permission to speak. The young mare nodded and the young son of Lunathiel and Shadow stepped forward. "I'm Ayden! I don't know who you are though!" He said pawing at the ground as if delivering a threat before looking up to his sister for approval. She nodded and he beamed dropping the tough act almost instantly. "Psst..." He said looking up to the one spotted like him. "What's a coosine?" He asked before ducking under his sisters leg at the slight snort from her.
"Ayden...that means your parent's sibblings had kids." She said acting as though it were so simple. The two toned foal nodded though he didn't understand the explination in the least.
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:45 pm
At the somewhat disbelieving and even brusque tone in the other mare's voice, Saiena raised a brow ever so slightly, a mannerism spot on to Safi's. However, she wasn't the type to let such trivial things get her down, chuckling in amusement at the absurdity of the situation instead. "Yes, Papa. Geez Dad, how long has it been since you checked in with your neice? You need to get out more, you."
Smiling, she gave Safi a whap with her tail, knowing full well that he had been meaning to take them to visit for a while and just never managed to pull it off. Then again, Kileyo could be a handful...
"You don't have to tell me that, Sai; besides, aren't I doing just that?" Smiling, Safi once again draped a wing over Sai, pulling her close in a hug. However, the eyes he'd turned on Amoena were surprised and a little disappointed, a response to the tone that he too had noticed. "And yes, Amey; I adopted Saiena when she was a basket, as well as her brother Kileyo. Blood might be thicker than water, but nurture is pretty important too, no?"
Releasing Sai, he then turned his attention to the colt, smiling brightly. "Ayden, huh? Well, I'm Safi, Ayden, and I'm Amoena's uncle on her Papa's side; her dad is my brother. That means that my children are her cousins, since her papa and I are brothers, understand?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:20 am
The white maned mare shrugged nodding slightly. So Safi had adopted children, that made a lot more sense to her. Of course she didn't know wether or not she liked knowing that she had a cousin now. She didn't know how she was required to treat a cousin they weren't close like sibblings were meant to be but they were closer then other horses. She glanced down to her brother meeting his eyes. He was concerned about her silence but he didn't know why.
As she nodded he turned to look at the stallion. "Her daddy's your brudder..."He said looking from Amoena to Safi trying to get this information to stick. "...but...what's a cousin?"
Amoena shook her head laughing. "Don't bother Uncle, he only hatched a week ago." Her words weren't meant to be hurtful but they stung all the same. Ayden bowed his head feeling rather stupid. They all understood so why couldn't he? Was he really that dense?
"Sorry..."He grumbled disheartened wishing that they would play instead of talking. He didn't understand most of what was being said and it caused his mind to wander about uneasily.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:44 pm
Having had a little brother herself, Saiena was more than familiar with the complications involved in trying to get a small mind to figure out complicated concepts. Still, one look at the colt's expression and she felt her heart melting.
"You know, it's complicated stuff, Ayden, and let me tell you that I didn't understand it that well until I was an adult myself. Let's just leave it at we're all family and call it good, hrm?" Movinng closer to the colt, Sai gave him a warm smile that soon widened into a grin. "I don't know about you, Ayden, but I am SICK of standing around. Any good rolling hills in these parts? I could do with a roll, how about you?"
Watching his daughter with the colt, Safi fel the warring emotions of pride, amusement, and age. So recently he'd been the one bolstering her, and now..man.
Ah well, you're only as old as you felt.
Taking advantage of the distraction of Sai and Ayden, Safi moved closer to Amoena, his voice softer so as to not distract the two younger Soquilis. "I'd say a little catching up is due, don't you agree, Amey?" This last was accompanied by a rather pointed look in Ayden's direction, allowing no room for error on Amoena's part.
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 9:36 am
The young colt looked up at the leopard spotted mare and smiled. So someone understood him after all and she wore spots just like him! He glanced over at Amoena asking for permission. She nodded slightly with a shrug and the little boy let out a shrill whinny of excitement making the sky blue mares ears flatten. That noise was something she'd never get used to.
"Yeah couspin hill there! Go!" He let out another excited cry not noticing how jumbled his words had gotten before racing off. Amoena's stomach flopped with worry watching him dart off.
"Don't go too far!!!" She shouted stomping her foot in warning. She'd never hurt the colt but the message got through all the same and he slowed. She nodded approvingly then turned to Saiena. "If anything happens to him you're the one I'll blame. Got that?" She wouldn't really hurt Sai either, she didn't want to anger Safi but threats worked for her.
Turning to her uncle she smiled and agreed silently. There were many things she had been meaning to tell Safi but there hadn't been much time to do so. "As you could probably tell...he's my half-brother but he doesn't quite get what that really means. He's never met my dad...do you wanna walk somewhere or just want me to spill the details?" She rather liked her talks with her uncle. It gave her a chance to say things she would never tell her mother. In a way he was like her best friend as there weren't many soquili that were really fond of her.
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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 1:03 pm
As she started off after the colt, Saiena gave Amoena the merest, most polite nod of understanding, throwing in a mocking "Yes, Mother," before following after the colt. As she followed Ayden, though, Saiena couldn't help but make a face once her back was to the mare and her father. Seriously, what a b***h! Cousin or no, there were some things that were just in the grounds of common decency, and snarking your relations...
Ah well. She didn't have to get hot under the collar over a triviality; and as long as she didn't have to deal with her cousin...That said, it was with a much more cheerful countenance that she followed after the colt.
After watching the younger two run away, Safi smiled and turned back to Amoena, the usual interested sparkle in his eyes. "Well, considering the state of the relationship...or rather, the NON-relationship between your parents, that's hardly surprising. And knowing Kohana, he wouldn't want to intrude on anything."
Which was truly Kohana's way. Now, SAFI, on the other hand...well, he wasn't above the occassional bit of intrusion! "Either here, there, or anywhere would be fine; if you wish to keep an eye on your brother, we could stay here, but I don't doubt Sai's ability to keep him from falling in any potholes or whatnot. She had to deal with a younger brother, after all, so I'd say she's got the knack down."
The soft look that came into Safi's eyes as he spoke of his children was a clear indication of how he felt about them; even now that they were grown he still couldn't help the fondness he felt for them. That look only lasted for a moment, though, before he was grinning at his neice once again. "What would you prefer, Amey?"
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 10:46 am
Amoena snorted at the mare having the sudden urge to chase after her and give her a good kick to her pretty little face. She resisted the feeling and turned to Safi and the fury on her face slowly began to vanish. Her uncle was like a tranquilizer for her some days. The light blue mare turned to watch her little brother bounce about like a fool and decided that the spotted mare couldn't look after him well enough. "Let's stay here." She said firmly as the colt tripped slightly, it didn't faze him but it worried her still.
With a slight sigh she turned from watching her little brother to focus solely on relating her tale. "His Shadow's kid." She said with a darkness to her voice she hadn't used for a long while. While she didn't blame the kid for his parents she still didn't like it. "I don't know when and I don't know how but somehow they got together. I didn't know about it until my mom was already pregnant and Shadow came to visit..." Her words seemed to drip with anger and poison showing she clearly wasn't happy with the situation.
"Ayd's my bro...half at least...but that doesn't mean I have to like his dad...right?" The wind picked up these last words and carried over to the colt frolicking about in the fields. He paused for a moment listening to what had just been said but he had no idea what had said it.
"Hello!" He called expecting some answer from the wind who didn't like some one's dad. He looked around anxiously and when he didn't get an answer he ran over to Saiena. He dove under her then turned to look up at her between her forelegs. "She's not happy!" He cried pointing at the air as if it were going to attack. "Bad dad!" He folded his ears back not sure how to get Saiena to understand. He squeaked and stiffened as the small breeze blew over him. "Ahhh! She's gonna get me!!!!"
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 11:19 am
Here, there, the location didn't matter too much as far as Safi was concerned. He could probably have done with having a tree to lean on, true, but he hadn't quite reached the point where he NEEDED one. Damn, that made him feel old just thinking about it!
Shaking off the whimsical ponderings of his own mind, Safi nodded his head slightly as Amoena spoke, glancing off in the direction of the two kids (even though Sai was grown, he still inevitably thought of her as a child). "All things considered, I can't say I'm surprised. Your mother and Kohana were never 'together' in anything but the physical sense, so the fact that she moved on...or back...or whatever it was..."
What WAS the relationship that Luna had with Shadow, anyway? He thought that he'd once heard that Luna had been involved with Shadow at the time that she and Kohana had conceived, but on that he wasn't sure. He KNEW that there had been some sort of fall-out between the two, that Amoena hadn't ben happy...
Oy. Family troubles were complicated, even if it WAS barely family. For Amoena, though, he could see that it was all too real, all too close, and that made it his business. She might be his brother's kid, but she was HIS neice. And for Safi, that was almost the same thing. Close enough.
Consequently, seeing how hard she was taking this whole situation was almost as tough on him.
Sighing, he moved to drape a wing over her, hugging her close. "Amey, you don't HAVE to care for anyone. There is no requirement that you have to like Shadow, or Ayden, or me, or your mother...hell, you don't have to like anything, if you don't want to. But you DO need to remember that sometimes...things aren't about you."
Tough bit of advice, that was true, but given Amoena's air of sourness on the whole thing, he felt it was a necessity to speak up. "You can dislike Shadow all you want, but people can feel such feelings, Amey. It gives off vibes, especially when the one that's upset is around constantly. You might not care for Shadow, but your mother obviously does; she cares for you as well, however, and I can only imagine how hard it must be for her, loving Shadow and knowing that you don't care for him."
Sighing, he stepped back, running a wing through his mane and looking squarely at his neice. "You're a grown mare, Amey; that means you can live your own life. You don't have to stay around, not any more." Hell, from the way it sounded, it would be BETTER if Amoena moved on, not only for the sake of her mother and Shadow but for herself as well. "Are you really happy in this situation?"
Wow. Watching Ayden was a little bit crazy, as far as Saiena had so far been able to determine. After trying to make some sense out of him, she finally had to shrug and give him a helpless look. "Sorry, Ayden, I don't know what you're talking about. Who's bad, and who's not happy?" She looked around as she spoke, but there didn't seem to be anyone...
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Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 11:42 am
Amoena couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. Her uncle was smart but she hadn't expected advice like this. Leave her mom? Leave her brother? Leave her home? Was it really best? She didn't want to, she lived to make her mom happy but she was just hurting her. Just hurting her mom for being angry with her mate. Even Safi could see what was going on with the two but what about her?
It wasn't about her.
The thought planted by her uncle moments before just came crashing down on her. She was part of the situation but it was really only up to her mom. She was powerless. Her eyes widened and started to shake a little bit as she tried to process everything. Her heart felt unusually heavy while she felt empty. The rage she used as a shield was dissolving around her and when she tried to pull it back Safi's words knocked it away again. She wanted to hate Shadow even though the reason was so far in the past and forgotten by all but her. She wanted to hate Shadow and she wanted to care for her mother, but what Safi was saying was that it would be impossible for her to do both.
"Am I happy?" She asked more to herself then to the wind. "Am I happy? Uncle Safi I don't think I've been happy for a long time, it's just been business..." She didn't know if this was fully true. It may not have been just business but she didn't know what else to call it. What did you call tracking someone for most of your life, training, fighting only to have your goal fail in the end?
She sighed. These thoughts were rather painful, remembering what she had down, looking at her now and wondering about her future, none of them were pleasant. Safi was right, she needed a change, and a big one.
On the other side of the field Ayden shrugged. "Don't know...they don't sound all mad now..." He flicked his ears back and forth searching for the noise again but it seemed to have vanished. Figuring the wind was happy again he ran out from under Sai only to began looping around her. He was too young to understand what he had heard and he would never know that it was his sister.
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 2:58 pm
Watching Amoena react to his words, Safi could tell that he'd given her a lot to think about. Though she wasn't exactly demonstrative, Safi knew his niece well enough to know that she hadn't been expecting that as an answer.
Without saying anything at first, he stepped up next to Amoena and wrapped a wing over her, givning her the chance to lean against him if she felt so inclined. "Amey, you need to think about yourself in this equation as well. Revenge isn't something to devote your life to, and in these circumstances, it will only serve to hurt those around you. You need to take some time to b yourself, to be Amoena. How else are you going to know who you are if you don't take the time to find out?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 9:43 am
Revenge wasn't something you could devote your life to? Then what was it she had been doing all of this time? Or was that even what he meant? She pulled out from under his wing and met his gaze head on trying to find some hidden meaning in what he was saying. Some loophole in his words that said 'I'm proud of you', there was nothing of the sort. He really thought what she was doing was bad? It had been for her mother, but not now. Was that what he was talking about? Protecting people was okay but not hurting them.
Find herself, be herself, that's what he'd said, but how did one go about doing that. She sighed and shuffled back to her uncle's side draping her head over his back. "I was being myself Uncle." She said closing her eyes hoping that maybe things would be better if she couldn't see anything. "At least I thought I was..."
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Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 10:10 am
It was funny; Amoena had always been a tough, in charge sort of mare, even when she was a child. Then, when she'd grown up, she'd been so determined to protect her mother, to be in control, to not let anything get past her watch. There was nothing WRONG with that, naturally, but...
"You were being yourself in the protective fashion, Amey. The problem is that you've not been able to break the past from the present in dealing with Shadow, not that you're a reliable and protective girl. Your mother loves Shadow, as far as I'm aware, but in your hatred of him, you hurt her and him and you and your half-siblings all at the same time! What you need to do is keep the ESSENCE of what is you, but change the specifics...at least where Shadow is concerned. But on that note..."
Gently petting Amoena's mane, Safi decided now was as good a time as any to address a concern he knew existed...with SOMEone. "Amey, have you ever considered seeking out your father? Or rather, meeting with him, since seeking him out isn't that tough?"
It hadn't been that long ago he'd spoken to Kohana, and during that meeting, Safi had been struck by the realization that he knew his brother's daughter better than Kohana! And for Kohana, at least...that hurt.
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