[open] and if everything's gone bad, we'll make it alright

[Narcisus]

The Desert got cold at night? What was a Desert, I wondered? How could it be very hot during the day and then get just as cold at night?

I’m in awe of Sixteen. He knows so much and that makes me feel very dumb. That question about being King of something was a stupid one - I shouldn’t have asked it. The other foals in the Den had played that game endlessly, filling their heads with made-up roles and then pretending to either fight with or join up against each other. Just kid stuff, make-believe. I’d never heard of ‘Kingdoms’ or ‘Rulers’ before my abandonment, but the way other foals played at it led me to believe this was how things were outside of the Den. I’d thought Sixteen would know this game too; turns out I was wrong!

“King of snacks?!” I laughed, having a grand time. Sixteen would’ve been a hit with the babies back at the Den. None of them had ever chosen to be King of Snacks.

“I would love to go there… someday.” I tell him. Whoever this ‘guy’ was that collected children… He sounded okay, I guess. I’d never heard of an adult that collected kids (had he been to the Den lately? Lots of foals there.) Then again, until Sixteen came along I hadn’t heard of a lot of things. For a moment I think about what the silver-laced colt is offering to me: a home, a friendship, maybe even a provider. I could leave with him and be just fine, I knew. One look at the meadow of horses who ignored us made me feel the truth of it. No one would miss me, would they?

“When my wings are big and strong I’ll fly to your home. I’ll come visit you, and we can play again. Promise.” I bobbed my head. “First, I gotta find my mommy. She left me but I really don’t think it was on purpose? She should’ve been back to get me a long time ago. Maybe something happened to her.” My shoulders did the bobbing now. My head would be full of childish hope until I learned otherwise. It felt impossible that mother would've left me for good. Not me, her darling baby boy!

Turning my head to pluck at a few misplaced feathers with my teeth, I felt a sudden eagerness to be on this quest of mine. The quest to find my mother and prove all my doubts and insecurities had been for nothing. I would find mother again, and when I did she'd hug me tight and tell me about why she'd been gone for so long. Sixteen would see. The babies in the Den would see. I stopped stretching and unwound myself to look back at Sixteen, a black feather clutched tightly between my teeth as a gift for him.

"Taek Ert." I mumbled. I had nothing else to give. It was all I could offer a sign of just how much this new friendship meant to me. The feather was like a promise: I'd be back for it, and maybe Sixteen would remember me because of it.

@[sixteen]