 |
Her ears tilted back and she turned her head away, looking sheepish. Well, he had known their mother far longer than she had regardless of the fact that she was nearly grown now. "I suppose so." Her twin pairs of wings fluffed as she pawed at the ground. "I'm not sure what expected I guess." He wasn't anything like her other brother and sister at all.
"Just because I'm older doesn't make me any less your brother." She had still been fairly young the last time he'd seen her, so it made sense she didn't really remember. "Why don't you tell me about where you grew up?" Since she was so like his mother perhaps distracting her from her current worry would help somewhat?
"It is up north, by the mountains beneath Rockslide Falls. There is so much open land filled with wildflowers in the warm months, many waterfalls and rivers, cliffs protecting the land on each side and a forest to the south full of glades." She spoke with twined dreaminess and enthusiasm as she spoke of it.
"It sounds beautiful." And similar in some respects to the Valley Herd's territory that had become his home as of late. "Do you miss it?" According to their mother it had been some time since they'd been back that direction even.
"I do. Sometimes more than others." The flower fields here weren't quite the same, nor was the forest. "But I do want to see the world, before I decide what I'm going to do with my future." They'd always had the choice, she'd just been the one to take up the offer to travel with their mother most often. "It seemed foolish not to."
"I did much the same when I was your age." With much less supervision even, but circumstances had been very different then. "And truth be told I still haven't entirely decided if there is any one place I want to be." So many places pulled at his interest now and again. Not to mention how widespread his group of friends was - everywhere he went there was usually someone to see now. "I might well never decide."
Her ears pulled forward in surprise, but she had to step carefully as they crossed a creek before she answered. "I never realized that was a choice." She had always thought that where you made your home was where you stayed.
He made a soft noise of amusement and shook his head. "Staying in one place doesn't have to be the only choice." He pushed a low branch out of the way with his muzzle. "For years our grandfather rarely stopped traveling, it was the same with our mother until just after you were born." And her heart had remained with Siebel. "Truth be told I think our grandfather only stopped because our mother did." Their mother had found her place and their grandfather could be comfortable anywhere, but he preferred to be near where most of his family was.
"Oh." She wasn't as aware of their mother's past as he was, clearly. But she had learned about Siebel early on in her life. She'd followed her mother back to visit her once she'd been old enough to travel. She'd seen them confess their feelings to one another, but she was only just now starting to understand what that truly meant. "Well, I will certainly take my time appreciating things then."
"You should. There is quite a wide world to see." He hadn't even come close to seeing it all himself. And while he wasn't likely to get through of it in his lifetime he was damn well going to try his best to experience as much as he could. "In the interest of exploring why don't I take you somewhere neat, it's nearby."
She could already tell, this was going to be fun!!! "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! Really!?" All four wings of her wings opened at once in her enthusiasm and sent her brother shuffling out of her way. She pawed at the ground and looked sheepish again. "I'm sorry." She'd forgotten how big her wings had gotten in the last few months. They were almost big enough for her to actually fly, rather than just flutter and glide, now.
He couldn't help it, he laughed. "Enthusiasm is no reason to be sorry." He certainly wasn't in any place to judge, having no wings of his own. "Just be careful, you don't want to get your feathers snagged on anything." Though they were somewhat spectral in appearance they behaved as if they were truly solid. He'd noticed that much.
Her feathers puffed up a bit when he laughed. She was hurt a little at first until she realized she wasn't going to be scolded for it. "Yeah." She'd had that happen on the way here and it had cost her a few feathers. "So where is this neat place?" They were back on a sort of path again, it was narrow enough that she'd had to fall in line behind him and tuck her wings in tight just to be safe.
Her hoofsteps were still right behind him - good. "Just a bit further." Another bend or two in the path and across another small creek. He could cross it easy enough in a few strides but it would take her a few more to catch up to him. "All good?"
"Yes!" She was practically bouncing with excitement now. It must certainly be nearby????
"Just up here." There was a short cave to cut through - full of moss and unusual flowers - on the way to a cove with things washed onto the bank. "I thought we could look for treasure." The river brought all sorts of things this way, perhaps there would be something interesting today.
She stayed close to her brother all the way through the cave, stopping once or twice to examine flowers that happened to be in her reach. But when they got to the cove that grabbed all of her attention immediately.
"Treasure really!?" This was going to be fun.
- fin
|
 |
Reply
