Could you help me push aside all that I have left behind
Power is a foreign concept to the likes of him. He’s had small tastes of it before but had never put two and two together. With a well-regarded Queen for a mother and a title of Loessian (and then Sylvan) Prince, he had always been treated with respect and kindness. It had never occurred to him that it might be false, that perhaps some were only deferential and helpful because for all outward appearances they had to be. He had never looked at another and wondered if they were being deceitful or flat out lying to his face, had never ran into the likes of horses like Ashhal in most of his wanderings. In fact it was only Manny who had ever made him feel the suggestion of doubt before.
His father had done his best to protect his youngest children in ways that he had failed the others (and himself) but by doing so he hadn’t realized that it left them that much more susceptible to dark influence and harm. By sheltering them, he had made them more vulnerable. Luckily, Oceane had a much different view of parenting and so not everything was a mystery to him and he knew there were things like monsters and bad things that wouldn’t be terrified by his bumbling claws. Still, when it came to other horses… He could not always see the forest for the trees.
For awhile he lays there and figures it’s to be another boring day. In his warm fur and with all four paws dangling comfortably over the wide branch, he’s started to become drowsy. Perhaps a nap is in order. He’s nearly drifted off when a soft tune rises from beneath him, a hum that drifts between his fuzzy ears, and suddenly he is wide awake. He leans his panda head slightly to the side and spots the mare walking below who doesn’t seem to notice him. There is a strange pattern to her cobalt coat that winks and glows and he is so enraptured in whatever she might be that when the branch near him shatters, it startles him completely.
Down he falls, a tumbling ball of black and white with not an inch of grace or dignity. He sprawls before her and quickly stands up as her honeyed voice reaches him, gold-flecked eyes finding her startling blue ones and then shifting to her frown, as he quickly merges from bear to stallion. A crooked grin is instantly on his lips as he shakes himself off, it’s not the first time he’s taken such a tumble before and it’s certain to not be his last. “It’s alright, I’m ok!” He laughs gently back at her, not wanting her to worry that he had been harmed and feeling that he must have looked ridiculous, hence that undertone in her apology. Double checking that the only thing truly bruised was his ego, he glances back up to where he had been resting and now sees what remains of the splintered limb that had been near him. “You did that?” He looks at her again but there is no accusation in his expression or his question, only open curiosity and awe.
His father had done his best to protect his youngest children in ways that he had failed the others (and himself) but by doing so he hadn’t realized that it left them that much more susceptible to dark influence and harm. By sheltering them, he had made them more vulnerable. Luckily, Oceane had a much different view of parenting and so not everything was a mystery to him and he knew there were things like monsters and bad things that wouldn’t be terrified by his bumbling claws. Still, when it came to other horses… He could not always see the forest for the trees.
For awhile he lays there and figures it’s to be another boring day. In his warm fur and with all four paws dangling comfortably over the wide branch, he’s started to become drowsy. Perhaps a nap is in order. He’s nearly drifted off when a soft tune rises from beneath him, a hum that drifts between his fuzzy ears, and suddenly he is wide awake. He leans his panda head slightly to the side and spots the mare walking below who doesn’t seem to notice him. There is a strange pattern to her cobalt coat that winks and glows and he is so enraptured in whatever she might be that when the branch near him shatters, it startles him completely.
Down he falls, a tumbling ball of black and white with not an inch of grace or dignity. He sprawls before her and quickly stands up as her honeyed voice reaches him, gold-flecked eyes finding her startling blue ones and then shifting to her frown, as he quickly merges from bear to stallion. A crooked grin is instantly on his lips as he shakes himself off, it’s not the first time he’s taken such a tumble before and it’s certain to not be his last. “It’s alright, I’m ok!” He laughs gently back at her, not wanting her to worry that he had been harmed and feeling that he must have looked ridiculous, hence that undertone in her apology. Double checking that the only thing truly bruised was his ego, he glances back up to where he had been resting and now sees what remains of the splintered limb that had been near him. “You did that?” He looks at her again but there is no accusation in his expression or his question, only open curiosity and awe.
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@Stargaze