10-25-2021, 07:18 PM
Malik says he’s fine, but it is a difficult thing to believe while he still doesn’t recognize her. He doesn’t contest what she’s said - it would be pretty silly to if he tried. Their relation to each other is obvious - and seeing him, seeing the pieces she now knows belongs to their parents, she now understands how Obscene and Aela had known exactly who her father was.
And her mother. She had once thought their blue coats were from Wishbone, the orange a variation of her amber eyes. But when she looks at Malik there isn’t a single scrap of the mare who had raised her and it hurts to think that means there is nothing in her face of that same beloved mare either.
Her ears twitch backwards for a brief moment at his questions, lips curling a little in distaste even as the tears continue to brim and make her vision watery. “Neither. I wouldn’t want to live there. Not with them.” Some venom works its way into her voice until that final word is practically spat out. Anger is a new emotion for her, one she does not wear or carry well, so it does not linger. It is not a poison for her and she deflates a moment later as she continues to speak. “We were raised in Tephra by Wishbone.” There’s a pleading note to her voice but she doesn’t care. She wants her words to give her back her brother, maybe his memories will return with the right nudge. “When I was little, Gale took me to Hyaline. But he and… and…” Calling them ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ is next to impossible for her to get out. Even though she’s spoken to others of Gale being her father, replacing the kind and strong Wishbone with the unravelled and frightening Mazikeen was an entirely different matter. “Mazikeen fought and then I was brought back to the jungle.”
She still doesn’t know why. What flaw had been discovered in her that had encouraged them to send her back. That entire night is fuzzy now - because she remembers with clarity the pain in the white mare’s orange eyes but that is in such contrast with the vicious, anger-fuelled beast that had grabbed her in the Pampas.
Now she barely wants to blink, though she must. The ache of these confusing memories and the guilt of how it had all ended - “And then they took you away instead.”
And her mother. She had once thought their blue coats were from Wishbone, the orange a variation of her amber eyes. But when she looks at Malik there isn’t a single scrap of the mare who had raised her and it hurts to think that means there is nothing in her face of that same beloved mare either.
Her ears twitch backwards for a brief moment at his questions, lips curling a little in distaste even as the tears continue to brim and make her vision watery. “Neither. I wouldn’t want to live there. Not with them.” Some venom works its way into her voice until that final word is practically spat out. Anger is a new emotion for her, one she does not wear or carry well, so it does not linger. It is not a poison for her and she deflates a moment later as she continues to speak. “We were raised in Tephra by Wishbone.” There’s a pleading note to her voice but she doesn’t care. She wants her words to give her back her brother, maybe his memories will return with the right nudge. “When I was little, Gale took me to Hyaline. But he and… and…” Calling them ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ is next to impossible for her to get out. Even though she’s spoken to others of Gale being her father, replacing the kind and strong Wishbone with the unravelled and frightening Mazikeen was an entirely different matter. “Mazikeen fought and then I was brought back to the jungle.”
She still doesn’t know why. What flaw had been discovered in her that had encouraged them to send her back. That entire night is fuzzy now - because she remembers with clarity the pain in the white mare’s orange eyes but that is in such contrast with the vicious, anger-fuelled beast that had grabbed her in the Pampas.
Now she barely wants to blink, though she must. The ache of these confusing memories and the guilt of how it had all ended - “And then they took you away instead.”
@
Malik