06-16-2020, 06:28 PM
Yanhua
They’re young boys still, but they play at war anyway. Greeting each other with a head tossed low, playing at the deadly art of ramming one’s opponent dead in their shoulder. Just two young colts saying ‘hello’. Someday, it’ll be two stallions and the light in their eyes now - familial, warm and welcoming - will be gone. Replaced with something darker, but no less bright. Today the gesture is harmless as they are, one yearling colt after the other turning to look at the antler-crowned filly and her sister.
For his part, Yan was happy to give the lead over to Nashua when it came their turn to reply. He was, himself, busy tuning out the noise of their words… if he concentrated in the moment he could breath in and feel the tingling sensation of an echo. How long had Tephra been here? Too many years to count? Nearly a hundred, if not more, he thought. Exhaling, Yan began to picture the way the land might’ve looked. He imagined, vividly, the way time spun backwards and backwards, how the suns would’ve slipped across the sky over and over again. The jungle surrounding him morphed, growing and thinning over the course of countless days, months, weeks, years as he thought backwards in time and let Tephra carry him further. An echo came to him: Tephra away from the mainland, kept apart from the shore by a wide sea. The volcano crowned the island, alive and glowing.
“Hi there.” The daydreaming horse suddenly piped up, interrupted by the sound of his own name in someone else’s voice. He nodded his horns swiftly, batted his dull gold tail side-to-side, and gave the other set of twins a quickish grin. From the corner of his eye he saw Nash give him a glance and chose not to return it. “Maybe you’re up to no good?” He speculated instead playfully, blooming into a more easy-going attitude now that the bashfulness seemed to be wearing off. “That’s all Nash is ever into.”
For his part, Yan was happy to give the lead over to Nashua when it came their turn to reply. He was, himself, busy tuning out the noise of their words… if he concentrated in the moment he could breath in and feel the tingling sensation of an echo. How long had Tephra been here? Too many years to count? Nearly a hundred, if not more, he thought. Exhaling, Yan began to picture the way the land might’ve looked. He imagined, vividly, the way time spun backwards and backwards, how the suns would’ve slipped across the sky over and over again. The jungle surrounding him morphed, growing and thinning over the course of countless days, months, weeks, years as he thought backwards in time and let Tephra carry him further. An echo came to him: Tephra away from the mainland, kept apart from the shore by a wide sea. The volcano crowned the island, alive and glowing.
“Hi there.” The daydreaming horse suddenly piped up, interrupted by the sound of his own name in someone else’s voice. He nodded his horns swiftly, batted his dull gold tail side-to-side, and gave the other set of twins a quickish grin. From the corner of his eye he saw Nash give him a glance and chose not to return it. “Maybe you’re up to no good?” He speculated instead playfully, blooming into a more easy-going attitude now that the bashfulness seemed to be wearing off. “That’s all Nash is ever into.”
I GOT | Extra | FEELINGS
@[Laia]