|
A light mist floated loftily in the cool morning air, Rei glided through it quickly blinking her eyes as the water droplets clung to her face. Underneath the clean smell of the mist the crisp smell of heavy rain loomed. Rei gently angled herself to the ground and tipped her heavily feathered wings towards her sides snorting at the thrill of plummeting towards the ground. Once she was nearing the level of the lower tree branches she spread her wings widely using them like sails.
Rei hit the ground running and pulled her wings close to her. She shivered as she felt her damp feathers brush smoothly against her sides. The pegasus slowed her pace to a trot once she stepped under the canopy of the trees.
She wished to immerse herself in the forest. Yearning to find release in the lush green that enveloped her. Rei's ears rotated, quickly flicking from one direction to the next listening to the song of the forest and its inhabitants.
Her father's ears laid back against his head, while the wind lashed at his mane. His normally gentle eyes were filled with rage and were as dark as the ominous storm clouds drawing upon the group of pegasi.
"What of it?" he screamed. Rei took involuntary steps back clutching at the the flicker of an apologetic look that she glimpsed in his eyes when he looked her way. Praying that he would quit this.
"You know your place Herlov," the other stallion's voice was collected but contained a deadly dose of contempt. "Act accordingly to your position or accept the consequences."
Still listening to the sounds, but with a mellowed out mood the pegasus spread a wing and began to preen her feathers. A nest neatly tucked away in between a few lower reaching tree branches caught her eye as she was reaching her neck out to straighten an out of place feather.
Rei slowly walked towards the nesting site quietly placing each foot forward until she could crane her neck to see if the nest was bare.
"What will you do?" Her father was looming in front of her within a few strides; too quick for the other stallion to stop him. With barely a moment's hesitation he smudged away the black paint that Rei and her mother had carefully applied that morning. "Will you execute the punishment before my daughter?"
The only sound left in the field was the sound of the wailing wind.
Peering curiously over the rim of the nest Rei teetered, trying to keep her balance while standing on the tips of her hooves. Her feelings towards the nest that she discovered to be empty were just as unbalanced. She had hoped to see wide eyed nestlings peering back at her. With a slight pout on her face Rei momentarily turned from the nest.
Stunned eyes raked over Rei's body.
"How dare you try passing on a Spotted as a daughter of one with such stature as a full Solid?" The stallion was seething with anger.
In Lytninia the pegasi were divided into classes. Pure whites were the highest class, solid colors were middle class, and those with spots were the lowest class. It was said that one should be as a painting, with sure steady strokes. A white was like a blank canvas filled with potential, a solid was one where the artist had a clear image in mind and swept the brush confidently, while a spotted was like a painting where the artist was shaky handed and fickle.
Her father, Herlov, was a few spot stallion. With only a few visible spots he was permitted to work as a guard to a high ranking filly, Leridana. The pay for such an important job was much better than his work in the fields. The stallion's previous back breaking work had made him durable and strong, he was able to climb the ranks much quicker than the other guards who were typically Solids with too many white markings.
Herlov grew close to the family of the glinting black filly that he guarded. Not only did he look after Leridana's safety but he also sparred with the family's young son teaching him to fight. The two fell in love and Leridana became pregnant with his foal.
After the initial panic the two shared they decided to keep it secret for as long as possible then once the foal was born they decided they would paint it with coal black paint in order to give it a chance at a better life. A foal of mixed heritage would never be accepted by the Solids nor the Spotteds.
Rei clamped her eyes shut and braced her feet apart. Trying to block out his look filled with loathing while preparing herself for the coming blows.
Rei felt the strike coming before it hit. Against her own will her eyes opened in time for her to watch the hoof slam into her chest.
Fanning her wing out she plucked the bothersome feather out and after standing as tall as she possibly could she came back to the nest and gingerly placed it in the well worn bottom made of carefully entwined twigs.
"Pardon the phrase, but that certainly kills two birds with one stone." She chuckled at her pun.
With a voice that was so terribly out of tune that it would be more likely to keep the birds away than draw them back Rei sang the traditional song of welcoming.
"Enough, Cineron!" Her mother's ebony frame lurched towards the stallion that had lashed out. She fearlessly bared her teeth at the much larger pegasi before arching her neck and posing herself as regally as the royalty that she was. Stepping in front of them Herlov spread his wings out to their full span, shielding the mother and child.
"But my l-la-lady!" the stallion that she called Cineron stuttered while craning his neck trying to see over her father's imposing figure. Rei laughed at the stallion's efforts, her father briefly looked back at her and winked. Although his movements were light,a burning rage showed itself in his eyes.."This lowly spotted is a disgrace to your family line."
Rei's mother watched the exchange between her daughter and her mate with a glimmer of a smile on her face. Whenever Herlov looked at her she couldn't hold his gaze. What would happen to her family? "Stand down. Rei is my daughter. I have claimed Herlov as my mate. Strike my daughter again and you will pay dearly."
A bittersweet smile graced her lips as she finished; remembering the enchanting singing voice of her mother. Back home placing the feather and singing the song was a custom. Anytime a nest was spotted empty a feather was placed in the nest as a symbol of the hopes that the birds returned safely.
"He cannot be! She cannot be yours. She is an abomination. A mix of a Solid and a Spotted is wrong!"
"Hold your tongue!" An older grey stallion strided towards the group. "Cineron take your leave, not a word of this to another soul. Or else I will make sure that your soul departs from that sickening body of yours."
After Cineron had left the stallion who had sent him away with a booming voice only sounded old and tired. He moved as if his body weighed more than what he could carry as he turned to Rei's mother, "You do know what must happen next."
Rei laid down under the tree where the nest lay safely nestled on the swaying branch. She rested her head between her forelegs and drifted to sleep; wistfully dreaming of the pair of birds that flew home every year to raise their young.
"Father!"
"Leridana, I have no choice in the matter. Cineron has taken the fight with Herlov personally. He will not let it go. Our only chance of being able to protect your Rei from the brutality of this land is to enact repercussions towards Herlov in order to satisfy Cineron and the lust for his so called 'justice'. he turned to Herlov,"I have come to love you as my own son so I cannot bear to enact the traditional punishment. Instead you will be exiled."
"Then we can all go! It is what this fight originated from. Cineron eavesdropped on our future plans for leaving Lytninia. Herlov, Rei, and I can disappear from this Godforsaken place and you can tell the brutes whatever you wish about our disappearance."
"Leri-Leridana," Rei's father's voice broke and it took two attempts to get her mother's name out clearly, after clearing his throat he continued "Rei is still too young for a long journey, we don't know what we would face. No one knows what is beyond Lytninia. Our plans were meant for a year or two from now."
Skarian was ruffled by his daughter's plans of running away although he understood her reasoning. His mate had died whenever Leridanna was young, he would have given anything for her to have stayed at his side. The stallion wished he could do more for his daughter. Swallowing all of the words that he yearned to say instead he pressed forward, "You should say your goodbyes now Herlov, the sooner you leave the better. Heaven knows we could have a riot on our hands if Cineron doesn't control himself. I will take Rei with me so that you two can have a moment together."
Herlov briskly turned to his daughter, softening whenever he was only looking at her. "Rei I am so sorry. I just, I couldn't. I could not handle keeping my love for you or your mother secret any longer. You understand don't you?" How had her life crumbled in a day's time? "Listen to me. I have heard of a land far away where your color has nothing to do with your standing. Anyone can be anything they wish if they have the drive. It could all be a fairy-tale woven together by those dreaming of better but don't be sad for today's events. I will turn this around, I will find it if it exists. I will return for you and your mother as soon as I can." His voice broke with emotion and he pulled her to him hugging her close.
"I love you dad." Rei was too overcome to leave her father with a grand farewell. Although from the mournful smile that lit his face she knew that she had said the right words.
Rei then followed her grandfather home, continuously looking back over her shoulder, leaving her mother and father to their last moments together.
"A year later, this is where the journey begins. I will find him, and we will find our happiness." When Rei stood she had the posture of one who had no doubt in what was to come.
As if an omen of the future a pair of birds now sat on the branch above where the nest rested began singing their lighthearted song. Looking up at the birds she grinned. Although her's was a heart of an outcast, it was light.
|
.svg/2000px-Google_Chrome_icon_(2011).svg.png){kind=icon}
