everybody seems so far away from me now
Pond had been enjoying her quiet life in Ischia. The stallions left her alone, for she was much too young for their attentions, although she occasionally enjoyed the company of Belgaer when he would come to check on her well-being. No doubt he wanted to make sure that she was being well-treated and that she was finding her way around the jungle-like island on her own. She had grown to become an independent yearling, leggy and strong-necked with wise gray eyes that spoke of her out-of-time age.
Her mind wandered, though, as she wandered too. She wondered about things like life and death, immortality and the fragility of life itself. She knows that she has been given something of a second chance - that she was never destined to live forever and yet here she is so many years after the life she’d been born into still youthful and alive. The world around her is magical and she has begun to shake off her sadness and sense of loss in exchange for a more accepting and awe-imbued sense of wonder.
When she had first met Vulgaris, she had been amazed and wondrous, touching her muzzle to his scaly skin and calling him beautiful. For indeed, to her, he was. He was different, like her, and somehow that seemed to her as if they were somehow bonded. Neither of them quite belonged in this world of beautiful creatures that could fly and vanish and breathe underwater and vanish in the shadows. So she seeks him out again. He may have been older than her, but she felt as though they were kindred spirits.
They were lost together.
But when she finds him, there in the forest after, she finds him standing near a poor mangled corpse. Its eyes are blank, its throat is torn, its limbs are askew. She trots jauntily around the elder stallion’s side before she registers the scene and then she gasps and stops with a jolt of her limbs digging into the gentle forest floor. It was one of the foals they had played with before, his little bronzed copper coat gleaming now with a coat of blood. The scent of death, of iron, of the sad loss of life overwhelms her. Her ears fall sadly and her eyes droop as she looks over the scene and turns abruptly to bury her face into Vulgaris’s scaly shoulder to hide her tears.
“What happened?” she sobs, hoping that her friend could explain it to her. She doesn’t notice the shadowy wings on her shoulders becoming somewhat more tangible - she had led the killer to his prey. She takes another glance at the body and heaves a sob at his bare ribs and bony jaw shining in the early light of dawn. “What happened…” she gasps, again burying her face in his shoulder. “I don’t understand.”
Her mind wandered, though, as she wandered too. She wondered about things like life and death, immortality and the fragility of life itself. She knows that she has been given something of a second chance - that she was never destined to live forever and yet here she is so many years after the life she’d been born into still youthful and alive. The world around her is magical and she has begun to shake off her sadness and sense of loss in exchange for a more accepting and awe-imbued sense of wonder.
When she had first met Vulgaris, she had been amazed and wondrous, touching her muzzle to his scaly skin and calling him beautiful. For indeed, to her, he was. He was different, like her, and somehow that seemed to her as if they were somehow bonded. Neither of them quite belonged in this world of beautiful creatures that could fly and vanish and breathe underwater and vanish in the shadows. So she seeks him out again. He may have been older than her, but she felt as though they were kindred spirits.
They were lost together.
But when she finds him, there in the forest after, she finds him standing near a poor mangled corpse. Its eyes are blank, its throat is torn, its limbs are askew. She trots jauntily around the elder stallion’s side before she registers the scene and then she gasps and stops with a jolt of her limbs digging into the gentle forest floor. It was one of the foals they had played with before, his little bronzed copper coat gleaming now with a coat of blood. The scent of death, of iron, of the sad loss of life overwhelms her. Her ears fall sadly and her eyes droop as she looks over the scene and turns abruptly to bury her face into Vulgaris’s scaly shoulder to hide her tears.
“What happened?” she sobs, hoping that her friend could explain it to her. She doesn’t notice the shadowy wings on her shoulders becoming somewhat more tangible - she had led the killer to his prey. She takes another glance at the body and heaves a sob at his bare ribs and bony jaw shining in the early light of dawn. “What happened…” she gasps, again burying her face in his shoulder. “I don’t understand.”
POND.
everybody just wants to be free