[private] From far away, this'll look like a comedy

[Narcisus]

I was born in the forest.
Momma hadn’t called it home or any of the funny names the other adults called their homes, just ‘The Forest’. She said there was a home for us out there, once or twice, but she never said its name so I guess that meant she wasn’t going back there and neither was I. The only place we ever did go was the Den, and I didn’t really like thinking about that memory so much.

It was late in the evening, past the time little colts and fillies should be out on their own. I’d been so busy playing all day that I hadn’t thought about how cold it would get after the sun went down, and when it did I was all alone again. No mother, no friends, and the other horses had all gone home. (One meanie adult had told me to go there, and I didn’t know what to say!) What was my home?

Not the den. I hated it there, really. So much sadness… TOO much sadness for me, all the time. I wanted laughter and love! Life, brimming with smiles all the time! Hugs and warm feelings. The other foals could sense my happiness (after all, in the beginning I had a lot to pretend to be happy for - I really thought momma would come back), and they clung to it like a balm for their shattered little hearts. I couldn’t go back there. They would drain me dry, and then I would have to admit to myself that being out in the cold all alone at night - wandering through the forest! - might not actually be the best thing ever.

“It IS the best thing ever!” I told myself aloud, too afraid of the silence and at the same time, terrified of how noisy my hooves were. I thought that maybe if I was really loud I could spook away the animals. What animals? I didn’t know. I never really thought of them before now, but I was suddenly very sure they were out there watching me, just waiting to pounce. My pulse quickened - I started to imagine large things moving just out of sight in the shadows, things with claws and fangs that could rip your guts out and eat your eyeballs. Or even worse, ghosts. NO - demons from the fiery pits of carnage’s lair!

YES. I was suddenly sure of it - there were demons out there, and they were following me.

I couldn’t see anything anymore. Not even the outlines of most of the trees. Barely my own hooves. Just the fuzziest idea of shapes and darkness, mostly different shades of black that made no sense. Terrified of making any noise at all and alerting the demons to my location, I’d stopped walking and was stuck in place, frozen by terror.

Was that one? Did something just move? I thought, scaring myself to death. I could feel every hair on my body standing on end, and you better believe I was ready to get the hell out of there if-
SNAP!, a branch cracked behind me, interrupting my thoughts by surprise. I opened my mouth and screamed.

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@[Aedan] if you never get time to reply to this, it still works for plot purposes <3

[Aedan]

He is often out in the evening, and though he rarely leaves the island now, occasionally he still longs to travel. His children are old enough that he does not worry if he leaves them with Vita as they slumber. Besides, Erne did a wonderful job of keeping an eye on them as well, making sure the children did not wander too far into the surf without nearby aid. Aedan did not suffocate his children though, letting them roam and wander and learn. So long as they were safe, he did not mind them exploring. After all, hadn’t he done exactly that when he was their age?

He makes his way to the forest today, the sky darkening as he travels, though he does not mind the dark. As the stars begin to creep out, he calls to them, letting the soft glow surround him as he so often does. He can see in the dark and so the light is simply because he enjoys it, enjoys the softness of their aura and the familiar feel of them.

Aedan has seen plenty of strange things in his life, though he is not expecting to hear someone shout It is the best thing in the forest in the dark evening. The sound comes to him from far away, sounding like a child. Not that Aedan hadn’t been in the forest at night as a child, but Aedan has a few advantages in the evening. He begins to follow the sound, at least wanting to check and make sure everything is okay.

He’s some distance away though, and it takes him a little while to find who he assumes must be the source of the noise. No one else seems to be around, and it has grown particularly dark in the forest. Aedan’s sight has always been fine at night, so perhaps the boy’s is too, but still. Aedan cannot help but worry. He steps forward again, a branch cracking under his hoof and the boy he sees starts to scream.

Oops.

”It’s okay,” Aedan says, trying to be heard over the scream. He pulls more of the stars to him, lighting the area around them as best he can with their glow. It is not perfect, but it should be enough to show the boy that it is only another horse that’s come to find him, nothing more. ”My name is Aedan,” he adds, hoping the boy will calm down.

aedan

the night is more alive and more
richly colored than the day.

@[Narcisus]

[Narcisus]

It’s okay, the stranger said. I stopped screaming. My heart hadn’t considered catching up to my head since it was still pounding in my chest, but my eyes were wide in the subtle glow of starlight and my mouth hung kind of open. Aedan didn’t look like the demons I’d conjured up in my thoughts only seconds ago, and he didn’t sound the way I thought a demon should. I was so relieved, and yet so terrified that I began to whimper a bit. Tears filled up my eyes, big fat crocodile ones that rolled over my sharp little cheekbones and streamed down the sides of my baby face. I was tired and hungry, lost and all alone out here in the woods, and my imagination had gotten the best of me.

“I, I -” I hiccuped, “- thought you were gonna eat me.” I told Aedan, ears drooping. My head lowered and so did my wings, limp from exhaustion.

Everything was going to be alright. My heart wasn’t pounding anymore, but my legs felt weighed down. How long had I been walking aimlessly in the dark? Where was I? I glanced to my left and then again to my right, trying to figure it all out from the little I could see by Aedan’s light, but nothing looked familiar.

“I’m lost.” I admitted. “Can you help me find my way back to the Den?” I asked the stranger, widening my eyes all pitiful-like. I took a hesitant step toward him, intrigued by his designs that reminded me of Sixteen’s. Sixteen had been glowy but nice, too. I could probably trust this stallion based on that fact alone. “I like your light…” I mumbled, turning shy.

[Aedan]

Aedan can’t help but chuckle slightly as the boy calms, admitting that he thought Aedan might eat him. It is a valid concern, and Aedan isn’t chuckling at that, but simply at the idea of him in particular eating anyone. There were creatures in Beqanna that would, though he doesn’t say as much, figuring that the boy doesn’t need more worries.

”I enjoy grass, leaves, the occasional piece of fruit, but I have never acquired the taste for flesh.” He gives the boy a wink and a grin, as if they were co-conspirators in some secret far greater than the fact he doesn’t eat other horses. Hopefully it would help to set him to ease.

Then the boy admits to being lost, but not from a parent. Instead he asks to be taken back to the Den, and Aedan’s brow furrows slightly. ”I can,” he says, making sure the boy knows he will help regardless, but then continues ”Unless you would like to come home with me? I live on an island, so I admit it is a bit of a journey to get there, but it is a beautiful place. I have two other children as well, and I am sure they would be thrilled to have you. That is, of course, if you do not have a family waiting for you.” He is not trying to replace this boy’s family or snatch him away, but he assumes if the child lives in the Den that he does not have family. Still, he does his best to make the offer sound as genuine as it is.

At the mention of his light, Aedan smiles a bit wider, calling to the stars and creating another little aura that he wraps around the colt. There is something like warmth in that light, though perhaps not actual warmth. It is the idea of it, like being nestled inside a snug blanket. ”What should I call you?”

aedan

the night is more alive and more
richly colored than the day.

@[Narcisus]

[Narcisus]

Aedan, like most adults, had a way of talking that really put me at ease. He used fancy words like “acquired the taste for flesh” which made him sound smart. Again, like Sixteen. Ackwired? I thought, screwing up my nose until it wrinkled all confused. Whatever it meant, he’d said ‘never’ right before that so I thought it was probably a good thing. I shuffled a bit closer to his light and asked him to guide me home, feeling very hopeful that he’d follow through since I was giving him my very best puppy dog eyes, but I noticed in the dim glow how Aedan didn’t seem to fall for it. He looked… angry?

A step backwards left me tugging my wings closer to my sides. Staring down at the dark ground underneath us, I listened with my ears turned half-backwards to hear what he had to say. He said he could and paused, leaving me waiting for the but that never came. Instead, he said unless. I looked up in surprise.

Unless I wanted to go home with him? An island home!? He had two other children there, which made me think of Sixteen again and how that glowy boy had said something or the other about a stallion collecting kids. Was Aedan like that stallion, then? Was collecting children a normal thing around here? The light around us grew brighter, drawing me in once more.

“Gosh,” I said, my thoughts all confused, “I don’t know…”

It seemed too good to be true. I had no way of knowing that Aedan could be trusted, but I felt like he wouldn’t hurt me. He had the chance to right now and I was still standing. I thought of my mother and how she still hadn’t returned from leaving me in the Den, how I’d turned down Sixteen’s offer to go with him back to Pangea because of her, and then turned my head around to peer over my shoulder into the darkness.

“Oh-kay.” I finally told Aedan, looking back at him with a serious grin. My ears waggled happily and so did my tail. “I’ll go with you to the Island. OH! My name is Narcisus.” I finally told him, before I forgot. I hope he thought that word was fancy like his other ones - it had taken me a while to learn how to properly say it! Narcisus, mother used to tell me, followed by My biggest folly. Whatever that meant.

Stamping my hooves, I took a deep breath and exhaled bravely for Aedan to see. So long, baby den! I took my first steps toward him and the new future he’d offered, not even bothering to feel sad about it.

@[Aedan]