05-24-2021, 01:50 PM
Love had kept them going.While sentimental, Yanhua had decided long ago that it’d been magic. It wasn’t because he was callous; Yan considered love - true love - to be one of the most powerful magics of all. It was just that the end of the Eclipse and losing his dam in the process had given him a clearer understanding of life’s more practical matters. Water and food being the most thought of when he’d watched the world die slowly around them and huddled his clan together every night. The memories alone suffocated him with dread. They came flooding in from every direction, from all around him, intensified by the strength of his bond among his herdmates. Yanhua had lived and re-lived all of their fears, and now that the sun was back … it was hard to just forget them.
But like a new-blossoming flower in the dawning spring of a sun-drenched Beqanna, his family did their best to parcel up the unforgettable and spread out into the light corners of their world once more. Perhaps it had been love that produced such beauty and rarity as his daughter Saturnelle, or another strikingly fierce hybrid like his kid Wit. Or maybe it had been the powers bestowed on all of them that ensured success. Where so many other violent, savage magics had gone dull, their combined efforts had provided healing, forage, and wellness. “After all,” Yan reminded himself, “Our King helped to bring the sun back.”
His mind had been in a fog since the winter festivities. Even though his light shined bright as ever on the outside, a bit of it had been snuffed out in the dark.
Yan had returned with Bardot to Taiga and resumed his life as-normal, giving her the space she desired in order to fully soak up the magnificent beauty of the mystical redwood forest. In his lifespan he’d yet to have his fill, but Yanhua knew from experience that not every horse felt the same. During Bardot’s initial time away he’d kept close to Amarine and Borderline, watching the children at play and occasionally relieving one of the younger, more permanent stallions from their duty.
They worked hard to wear down the trails, keep up the gardening, and enjoyed the fruits of such hard-earned labor.
On that day, Yanhua trailed his wife's stroll through their eden and grazed beneath the shade of a bulbous, purple-capped mushroom. With a flick of his ears he could hear the pitter-patter of her companion on the hunt, but paused from ripping up a clump of edible moss to lift his horns in curiosity at the silence that suddenly followed. He waited, dipping into the center of his power and expanding his awareness with it in search of some emotional warning from the jewel-encrusted mare, but nothing came.
A moment later he heard the faint softness of her Hello, and started down the steep hillside toward the evergreens that encircled a nearby meadow.
“That she is, darling.” Yan’s attitude brightened as he brushed through the felt needles and saw who was standing there. “Amarine,” Yan strode by her, careful not to rub himself too strongly against his mate’s delicate wings, “This is Bardot, an Amazonian native from before the Reckoning.” He trotted swiftly toward the unicorn in their midst. When each stride was as long as Yan’s wingspan, it took no time at all to reach the buckskin and swing around again so that the two of them - Bardot and Yanhua - were facing Amarine together. However, only one of them was wearing an elated, lop-sided grin. “Bardot this is Amarine.” He introduced the two.
“My wife, and one of the most captivating mares I’ve ever had the pleasure of calling both my friend and the mother of my children.” Yan laid the compliment on thickly, beaming. It had always been one of his greatest joys to over-exaggerate in the company of a loved one who could feel the truth so quickly. Amarine knew exactly how Yanhua felt about her, and the sentiments went deeper than spoken praise ever could. Which made joking so much more fun. “Bardot and I met after the closing ceremony on the Isle, and she agreed to come try Taiga on for size. What she doesn’t know yet is just how boring Tephra is going to be in comparison.” He smiled.
YANHUA
@[Bardot] @[Amarine] I'm not sure what happened but here's a novel I guess.