Adelric

The half-child has returned the island, taking a cloud from the ground to the sky, seeking his mother one last time. He and his sister have contemplated leaving, going with their father, going away from the Falls to somewhere… different. Their reasons are very different, he supposes. Zunden wants to leave to escape their mother but gentle Adelric only wants to save her- save her from the pain he causes her and the sorrow that follows him everywhere he goes. He will be better in the Basin, he tries to convince himself, because he can start over. He can escape the sadness that follows him, escape the bad things that he makes happen, escape the disaster of a life he has made for his mother. Oh, he knows she loves him, but he doesn’t think that love makes her happy.

He will sacrifice himself for her, because it is the only decent thing left for him to do.

Quietly, then, he wanders, bi-hued eyes watching the world with curiosity, trying to find the mother that he so closely resembles. She proves difficult to locate near the tents, so he widens his search; how strange, then, that he should wander towards one very, very angry mare. Clearly this is a rage that he has not caused. His mind, ever eager to learn, urges him to postpone his search for his mother, at least for the moment, to watch this women. She paces for a moment before violently tearing something from her mane, tossing it to the wind. For a moment the half-child considers chasing after it, but he stands upwind of her and the feather has drifted off in the other direction. He decides it is best to remain hidden in the boughs of the cherry trees for the moment, especially as the mare seems to have violently exploded.

Surprise hardly covers the range of emotions the colt was feeling and the buck fawn that followed him bleated out unexpectedly in fright. Ever steady, the half-child reaches his nose to the side to comfort the frightened cerndyr, though his eyes never leave the mare who has ignited herself. It more than piques his interested that she is seemingly not affected by the flames herself. Why does the ground burn, the tree burn, the grass burn, but the mare does not? Indeed, if her desire is to become a feared name in Helovia, she has had quite the opposite effect on young Adelric.

Cautiously, for he is not yet sure that he is immune to the flames, the half-child emerges from the cherry blossoms and tilts his head, surveying the scene. The cerndyr decides to remain in the shadows for the moment, watching with as much interest, but a stronger desire to continue on unseen. When he speaks, his voice is full of genuine curiosity- he wants to learn and does not judge the mare for her actions. “Why doesn’t the fire burn you?” he queries, ignoring the probably smarter question of why she burns everything else. He is growing braver since his talk with Ophelia. He is learning that he doesn’t have to please everybody, though there are still those he will go to any length to keep happy. He only hopes, now, that the pretty flame-encased mare does not decide to turn her magic onto him.