I think I was finally happy again. With Dezba on my back and my son next to me, I was finally happy. Both Azarel and my jag were growing ever so fast. Of course, my son was still a foal and had to learn how to control his body, but he could almost walk like an adult horse. And Dezba... She was sleeping on my still rather wide back and even snored a little.
The only thing missing was Destry. She was still in the Basin for all I knew and who was I to hope that she was still alive? I could only dream that she would be there when my mate and I came next time.
My gaze wandered over the meadow. The sky was black as coal with small twinkling diamonds and a white glowing eye. The night was something I was rather tired of since the sun came back yesterday. Oh, that morning had been wonderful. A shock - sure - but wonderful.

I sighed and took careful steps as I felt the meadow's soft grass against my legs. You never knew where the rabbits had dug their holes, or where the stones were laid out. I had to be careful to not put my hoof wrong and fall, while I also checked my son's every single step. He didn't know the world like I did yet, and I didn't want him to learn the hard way.
"Be careful, Azarel. You don't want to fall into a rabbit's hole." My voice was soft and calm, like it always was whenever I spoke to my foals.
Dezba moved on my back and I heard her yawn quietly, so my voice directed itself to her too.
"Lay still, my desired." She meowed with a complaining tone, but she did as I said and laid down more comfortably again.

I soon heard the river's flushing music and smiled. A memory snuck into my brain, of Lace and Fajira. The second time we had met, he had thrown himself in the river with no mercy at all. A smile wandered across my black lips and I giggled a little. Sure, I missed the stallion - but I didn't even know if he saw me as a friend anymore.
We hadn't met since the invasion - and that had not been a pleasurable sight. The smile disappeared and was replaced with a deep sigh. Azarel came closer to me and pushed his golden bodice closer to mine, making me stop. I lowered my head and nudged the colt on his yet flat forehead. To me, he was a miracle.
Destry had been a surprise - a happy one -, but Azarel was a miracle. I thought I only could have one foal in my life, but I had been so wrong. And this time I was happy to be wrong.

I turned my head again, towards the horizon, and watched the darkness drift away. A smile spread across my lips as I watched the sun rise. The morning had come once again. Sure, yesterday had been a shock, but I never figured that it was actually back. Azarel squinted his eyes and blinked as he accidentally looked straight into the ball of light, making me smile again. Dezba roared in delight, her interest for the light almost surprised me. It had been funnier yesterday though.
My thoughts drifted back to Lace and another sigh was heard from my lips. Lace and Fajira... I missed them, but he probably didn't miss me. I mean, we have met two times here on the Meadow and I saw him once more in battle. Of course he didn't see me as a friend, only as an unknown mare who happened to cross his path more than once.
At least that was what I thought he thought of me.
My son yawned and observed the sun rise higher, giving the sky beautiful colors. Red, orange, yellow, pink, purple... Beautiful sight for sore eyes. My gaze wasn't quite used to the sun yet.
It would be soon, but for now I had to get used to it once again.

"Found a thin red line of madness."

ooc: For Lace only <3
word count: 692

A loud melodic chirp made me point my ears and I let my blue gaze wander over the brightening sky. I recognized that chirp, but I couldn't remember from where. Dezba and Azarel became aware of their surroundings as well, and I felt my son push himself closer to me. It felt like he was stuck now, close as he was. I smiled at my son, but continued to search for the source to the chirp.
A gasp fled my lips and I couldn't believe my eyes. Soon my shock reached Dezba and she roared quietly as a complain, but became curious and watched where I now stared. Fajira. Azarel looked up at me and had an extremely confused look on his golden face.

"Mama, what are you looking at?" I didn't move an inch. I didn't even know what my son had just said. Fa-jira... That would mean.. Lace.
"I just f-found something, darling." I whispered, watching the white dragoness soar above us. I didn't let her go with my eyes at all. I cleared my throat and was just about to say something, when Dezba saw the dragon as well.
She gave up a loud, squeaky roar of joy and stood up on my back, happy to have found someone as small as her.

"Dezba... Do you want to play with her?" I asked the feline and I felt a positive energy flow from her to me. Yes, probably. Slowly, I bent on my front legs to let the femme jump down from my back, but she didn't go any further. She had seen something else from where she stood now.
I raised a 'brow and looked up, gazing over the meadow. What was she looki-ng at... Oh my Gods and Goddess. My eyes opened wide and I had to swallow several times to catch my voice again. When you think of the devil - so to say. I walked closer to the grullo stallion, who's head was down in the grass, and didn't stop until I was just about three or four steps away.

"Lace." Azarel stood behind me, close to my right hindleg, and Dezba sat by my front hooves looking at the stallion with curious blue eyes.
"It's been awhile." I said, my voice soft and low. A friendly smile had settled on my lips and I looked at him. He had changed a lot since last time, with scars and a new tattoo. But, he still looked like Lace, which mattered the most.

"Found a thin red line of madness."

ooc:
word count: 419

His voice was reserved, causing me to make a slight movement away from him. Of course, he didn't see me as a friend anymore. We had fought against each other's herds almost two years ago. Holy shit, had it been two years already? "Quite a while indeed; you seem well." I nodded slightly, feeling the tense air between us. I observed how he gazed over at my hind, looking at my son, and then at my jaguar who still sat by my front hooves.
Lace seemed to be so cold. What had happened to him since we fought against each other? He had been so friendly and kind... But right now, all that was gone. He was so reserved, private.
"How is life in the Basin?"
Ouch.
I lowered my head, looking away. My colt took careful steps closer to me, nuzzling my cheek. Should I really tell him all that's happened since we went two different ways? Yeah, probably. "Uhm... I..." I cleared my throat to try again, but as the Basin's name came up, so did the lump in my throat. "I don't live with them anymore. I left them." I couldn't take it, I was too depressed. "Honestly Lace... So much has happened to me since we... Last met." I decided not to mention the Battle, because that was maybe too inappropriate since I actually lived within the Edge's borders now.

"After that day... I got separated from the herd. But I did something of it and went to the Veins to ask for a companion. Though I didn't recieve Dezba here until a few weeks ago, because... I've been a little busy." I looked at the grullo again, raising my head a little bit. "I've met someone. A... A pegasus. Azzaron. I fell in love, believe it or not..." Raised my head a little more as I spoke and Azarel came up right next to me. His golden head shimmered beautifully in the sunlight, and his dual colored eyes sparkled of curiosity. "We had a daughter, last summer. Destry. But the Basin... They took me and Destry away, making me leave Azzaron on our daughter's birthday. And..." I couldn't help it. The tears started to roll down my white-marked cheeks, the lump in my throat got bigger. I hated this. Not only did the hormones from the pregnancy still haunt me, but I didn't want to talk about this. I still saw a little bit of that friend I once had in Lace, and I needed to tell him this. "I was too depressed, so I left. But they didn't allow Destry to come with me. And when Azzaron and I met again... We created this life. This is my son, Azarel." I lowered my head again with closed eyes and nudged my son's forehead, nuzzling the bump on his tiny forehead.

"Lace, believe it or not... I also found a new home for us. For my little family." A smile tried to cross my lips, but the tears only made them quiver so I let it disappear again. "I'm a member of the World's Edge. Atleast until the end of Tallsun if Azzaron can't become a friend of Kri." There. I had become a member of the herd I once fought against. Would he call me crazy?
Would he leave the meadow? Did he see me as an enemy?

"And how have you been?" So unfitting after what I just told him, but hey - you had to be polite.

"Found a thin red line of madness."

ooc: Took a while to write this xD
word count: 585

I could barely believe it. Lace stayed throughout my whole story, and he even came closer when I was done. I felt his warm, smooth muzzle brush away my tears, and a smile crossed my lips again. I had a friend, and even if it was only one it was enough.
"You've had it rough," Yes. I felt his teeth gently tugging on my neck, and I let him. Lace was a friend I didn't really wanted to lose, since he was my only friend that I could trust - even if we had been parted since the Battle.
"I'm sorry if I seemed cold. It has been a rough couple of seasons for us as well, and my faith in horses have... worn thin." His muzzle dropped from my coat and he walked over to my other side, and I rose my head to watch him welcome my son. The smile on my lips got wider and I almost started crying again - but this time of happiness. I still had a friend. This was too much for me.
"Hello, Azarel. My name is Lace; I'm an old friend of your mothers. And a herd mate of all three of you, it seems." There it was. Friend. I watched my son take a few steps closer to the stallion, stretching his thin neck to take in his scent. He almost lost his balance though and quickly raised his head again, looking at Lace with wide-open eyes.

I silenced a giggle before it came to be heard, and noticed the white dragon that sat upon my friend's withers. Fajira was as beautiful as she had been two years ago. I just couldn't take my eyes off her. "Hello, Fajira..." I whispered, and Dezba let out a meow to make her presence known. She walked around to the side my son didn't stand on, and with all of her powers she jumped up on my back. Look, I can too!
She crawled to my withers and took a careful step on my shoulder, trying to get closer to Lace and his dragon. I turned my head and looked at the feline, making her take a step back again and sit nicely on my back. I smiled and nodded before I turned my head to Lace again.

He didn't smile anymore, instead he wore a mask of seriousness on his cobwebbed face. The smile on my own disappeared as well when I heard him speak again.
"How long has it been since you had to leave your daughter?" The stallion's eyes almost narrowed and I could imagine a frown upon his face. A sigh left my lips and I looked away. "Whole Birdsong. Mauja forced me to leave the Basin and not look back in the end of Frostfall." I said, my voice low without a single tune of happiness. My blue eyes gazed up to watch the grullo, and I saw that his face had the exact same expression still.
"We'll have to see to getting her back, won't we..." I sighed again and looked straight at him again.
"Azzaron and I are planning to go get her. I just hope that she actually comes with us when we try..." I almost whispered now, as the subject gave me a huge headache. It hurt to think about Destry. My little treasure was stuck, unable to escape. I almost felt my heart break just thinking about it and rage filled my veins because it was all Mauja's fault.
"The ice-bastard said when I left that he would find a mare to feed Destry until she was old enough. But I don't believe him for a single second. That asshole destroyed my life..." I just mumbled now, and I felt Dezba nudge my withers with her cold nose. She was trying to comfort me, but not even she could heal the broken thing inside of me. Maybe with time, but not now.
Nothing could.

"Found a thin red line of madness."

ooc: :D
word count: 661

Listening to the grullo's words, I looked down and sighed. The Basin were no longer friends of mine, they were just betrayers who I had thought of as family once. I didn't even know if I wanted to stay in the World's Edge because of the guilt I felt. I felt guilty that I had thought of Mauja's herd as family once, and fought the new one that I had been accepted into recently. "Let me know when you go north, I will help you however I can." My head rose and I looked into the stallion's warm honey eyes. Oh, Lace. 'If I hadn't met Azzaron, I would still be in love with you,' I thought and looked over to his golden back where Fajira sat and cooed at my cub.
A smile decorated my lips as I flicked an ear towards Lace.

"The unicorns of Aurora Basin overall have a lot to answer for. I can't say anything about who they choose to allow in their own group, even though I've never understood the fixation on race and purity, but the fact that they make trouble for other herds because of it I can never accept. Not only that, but they harbor murderers and kidnappers - and don't say that it's because the few good-natured unicorns that live there don't know about it. You're simply not allowed to be that blind to your fellow comrades true nature."
I knew about all of this before - still, I had gone with Mauja and Psyche in belief that everything would be okay. I knew that they were racist fucks, I knew that they kidnapped, tortured and murdered a few equines and pegasi now and then. Still, I had stayed. Hoped for the better.
How selfish I had been.
I had only thought about myself and my family, hoping that we would turn out okay and that we would be forever happy. The stallion in front of me snorted and I got back to reality, observing him.

"The sad thing is... I knew all of this when I was back into the herd I once called my family. I knew that they were racist, I knew that they never backed down on killing anyone who wasn't a unicorn. And the guilt I have in my heart will never disappear because of that. I hope - so badly - that my daughter won't be in trouble because of my mistakes. I hope..." I closed my white eyelids and swallowed the lump in my throat. "... I hope that we won't be too late when we go to get her from there."
My golden boy nudged my shoulder gently and looked up at me. His mismatched orbs shifted between me and Lace and I watched as he parted his lips for the first time in front of my old friend. "Mama... What are you talking about? What's the Basin?" I looked at Lace for a second before I answered.
"A place you should never go to. They're bad." I whispered, before I gently pushed my lips against his flat forehead and rose my head again to look at Lace.
"Are you really willing to help me out? After our past?"

"Found a thin red line of madness."

ooc: Wow, my first post in like 3 weeks <<
word count: 537
tags: @[Lace]