05-16-2021, 11:49 AM
And now what?
The instant she falls, the mistrust and the anger evaporate away like water poured onto lava, and the fog left behind brings him no clarity. There is no solution here, he cannot leave her alone, not for long, and he certainly cannot send the child into the dark jungle to find help. The pale strands of his tail flick as if at unseen flies, snapping the sharp pattern of his vexation across scale-marked flanks. Welcome to Tephra, indeed.
The sound of the Waterfall lures him. It can't be very far, and he recalls another parched fish washed up on his shore in another time. It feels so long ago, longer than years, there's a century of darkness between then and now, but remembering gives him hope. It gives him a plan.
"Gilda," he calls sternly to the gold-marked child beaming under Aquaria's groggy admiration, and waits for her to turn her delicate face up to him, and when she does, the muscles of his cheeks clench involuntarily because he hates this plan, but there's nothing else to be done.
"Gilda, I'm going to go find the Waterfall, and I want you to stay here with... with our new... friend. You make sure she stays awake, can you do that?"
Gilda nods enthusiastically in reply and Dace smiles down at her as if dread isn't pouring out of his heart. Slowly, gently, he pulls his leg from under the Dame, until her pale head rests against the ground. The filly looks down at her charge, but he calls her attention back.
"Now listen - and this is very important, okay? If the Monsters come back (you remember those creatures we saw at the River?) - if they come back, you are going to run. As fast as you can, you're going to run, and you don't stop until you find me or one of the Magician's birds." He pauses, centering himself with a deep breath, "Do you understand?"
Large brown eyes blink, the child looks down again at Aquaria, bleeding and prone.
"Gilda." She looks back up at him and nods a second time.
"Yes, Papa," she lies, confused but obedient. She does not understand.
He nods then, teeth gritted, and drops his muzzle to brush lightly against the dazed mare's ear.
"I have to go, but I'll be back," I hope, "Gilda will stay with you until then."
He doesn't even dare to think the other dark hope that underlies every word; that if the Monsters return, they will focus on the injured and very likely dying Dame and ignore Gilda entirely, that Aquaria will be the sacrifice that saves his daughter. He presses a kiss between the filly's gold ears and disappears into the dark jungle, following that wild rushing sound of water.
Gilda watches him go, unsettled, uncertain, but the sound of the scaled mare's harsh breath reminds her of her task and so she curls her long legs beneath herself, tucking herself close beside the Ischian Dame.
"Uh-Kware-Ee-Uh," her voice is silver-bright in the shadowy thicket, "That's a pretty name. Does your daughter have a pretty name, too?"
The instant she falls, the mistrust and the anger evaporate away like water poured onto lava, and the fog left behind brings him no clarity. There is no solution here, he cannot leave her alone, not for long, and he certainly cannot send the child into the dark jungle to find help. The pale strands of his tail flick as if at unseen flies, snapping the sharp pattern of his vexation across scale-marked flanks. Welcome to Tephra, indeed.
The sound of the Waterfall lures him. It can't be very far, and he recalls another parched fish washed up on his shore in another time. It feels so long ago, longer than years, there's a century of darkness between then and now, but remembering gives him hope. It gives him a plan.
"Gilda," he calls sternly to the gold-marked child beaming under Aquaria's groggy admiration, and waits for her to turn her delicate face up to him, and when she does, the muscles of his cheeks clench involuntarily because he hates this plan, but there's nothing else to be done.
"Gilda, I'm going to go find the Waterfall, and I want you to stay here with... with our new... friend. You make sure she stays awake, can you do that?"
Gilda nods enthusiastically in reply and Dace smiles down at her as if dread isn't pouring out of his heart. Slowly, gently, he pulls his leg from under the Dame, until her pale head rests against the ground. The filly looks down at her charge, but he calls her attention back.
"Now listen - and this is very important, okay? If the Monsters come back (you remember those creatures we saw at the River?) - if they come back, you are going to run. As fast as you can, you're going to run, and you don't stop until you find me or one of the Magician's birds." He pauses, centering himself with a deep breath, "Do you understand?"
Large brown eyes blink, the child looks down again at Aquaria, bleeding and prone.
"Gilda." She looks back up at him and nods a second time.
"Yes, Papa," she lies, confused but obedient. She does not understand.
He nods then, teeth gritted, and drops his muzzle to brush lightly against the dazed mare's ear.
"I have to go, but I'll be back," I hope, "Gilda will stay with you until then."
He doesn't even dare to think the other dark hope that underlies every word; that if the Monsters return, they will focus on the injured and very likely dying Dame and ignore Gilda entirely, that Aquaria will be the sacrifice that saves his daughter. He presses a kiss between the filly's gold ears and disappears into the dark jungle, following that wild rushing sound of water.
Gilda watches him go, unsettled, uncertain, but the sound of the scaled mare's harsh breath reminds her of her task and so she curls her long legs beneath herself, tucking herself close beside the Ischian Dame.
"Uh-Kware-Ee-Uh," her voice is silver-bright in the shadowy thicket, "That's a pretty name. Does your daughter have a pretty name, too?"
@[Aquaria]
