[private] From far away, this'll look like a comedy

[Narcisus]

Aedan, like most adults, had a way of talking that really put me at ease. He used fancy words like “acquired the taste for flesh” which made him sound smart. Again, like Sixteen. Ackwired? I thought, screwing up my nose until it wrinkled all confused. Whatever it meant, he’d said ‘never’ right before that so I thought it was probably a good thing. I shuffled a bit closer to his light and asked him to guide me home, feeling very hopeful that he’d follow through since I was giving him my very best puppy dog eyes, but I noticed in the dim glow how Aedan didn’t seem to fall for it. He looked… angry?

A step backwards left me tugging my wings closer to my sides. Staring down at the dark ground underneath us, I listened with my ears turned half-backwards to hear what he had to say. He said he could and paused, leaving me waiting for the but that never came. Instead, he said unless. I looked up in surprise.

Unless I wanted to go home with him? An island home!? He had two other children there, which made me think of Sixteen again and how that glowy boy had said something or the other about a stallion collecting kids. Was Aedan like that stallion, then? Was collecting children a normal thing around here? The light around us grew brighter, drawing me in once more.

“Gosh,” I said, my thoughts all confused, “I don’t know…”

It seemed too good to be true. I had no way of knowing that Aedan could be trusted, but I felt like he wouldn’t hurt me. He had the chance to right now and I was still standing. I thought of my mother and how she still hadn’t returned from leaving me in the Den, how I’d turned down Sixteen’s offer to go with him back to Pangea because of her, and then turned my head around to peer over my shoulder into the darkness.

“Oh-kay.” I finally told Aedan, looking back at him with a serious grin. My ears waggled happily and so did my tail. “I’ll go with you to the Island. OH! My name is Narcisus.” I finally told him, before I forgot. I hope he thought that word was fancy like his other ones - it had taken me a while to learn how to properly say it! Narcisus, mother used to tell me, followed by My biggest folly. Whatever that meant.

Stamping my hooves, I took a deep breath and exhaled bravely for Aedan to see. So long, baby den! I took my first steps toward him and the new future he’d offered, not even bothering to feel sad about it.

@[Aedan]