06-09-2017, 05:50 PM
the incense that sun on prairie offers to sky
His eyes hold hers, green like grass - like the plains in her mother’s stories. It is hard to look away and she is not the first to do so, he does, giving the field a good hard look as if seeing it for the first time. She cannot imagine what it is like to come from somewhere else and see this, even though she has gone from here to elsewhere at times, but she always came back.
Something about this place held her heart longterm and though she too, is given to fits of wanderlust, she always returned to it. But to see the field through his eyes, it almost seems to be in beautiful shambles - dust stirred by travelers’ feet, conversations both loud and soft, a constant flux of smells that belonged to horses from all over, and she realized that it was a bit overwhelming and strange. Spark almost pities him for a moment, to be so at odds with a place and a time as one like this that allowed a lot of them to be more than just horses with hearts and brains and the fur on their backs.
She felt fortunate to have been born to it, and nearly breathed out a sigh of relief but kept it back knowing that he’d have no idea why she was sighing and might misread it as boredom. That was the farthest from the truth! He intrigued her, probably as much as she intrigued him, as he mentioned how correct her assumption of him was. Then again, the mere fact that he looked large and out of place with his stern face had given him away. She nearly laughed at that, he was not as stern as he appeared to be, but rather quiet and almost gentle - a gentle giant! The thought of that, despite the fine silver lines up and down his legs, made her lips lift up in a smile.
Spark noticed his mouth open as if he made to reply but nothing came out. The smile pulled down into a little frown as she looked at him, her own mismatched gaze showing concern. Was he alright? It seemed her mention of home had hit a bit of a sore spot with him and left him considering if that was a thing he had always lacked. Most never liked facing these kinds of realizations, it was like a weakness and Spark was almost sorry that she had asked. She sensed his vulnerability and saw it as an opportunity to take the tiniest step forward, enough to brush her whiskery nose against his thick neck.
“I don’t think most of us know, but maybe I can help you find it?”
She offers, not in the least bit hesitant about presenting him with the idea of Tephra, her home but she pauses, and it seems like in that instant, so many things can come to fruition --
“You could come back with me, to my home.”
It is the smallest of suggestions, almost hushed as she looks up at him.Spark