Did she wear her mother’s eyes? Did she don her mother’s smile? Did she possess her mother’s heart? I feared what I would find in my own daughter and I was therefore too weak to face her; how tragic and self-deprecating… so much so that I’d reduced myself to ashes after imploding; I was all too familiar with hitting the self-destruct button before even taking a chance on life. I was just another Tale of Sinuhe choosing to run from the fight in order to save myself and just like the fictitious traitor, I had returned seeking forgiveness and wealth. It was frustrating, deploring… I once a damn legend I tell you. What had happened to pride? My glory?

After all, my name was never whispered upon curious tongues nor was it caressed greedy ears. Perhaps I was just a joke. Perhaps I was just a washed-up child prodigy, too aged to revel any longer my fifteen minutes of fame. I was a legend no more and as for my legacy… well it was up in flames, burning in hell with my memory while my daughter gallivanted through life hoping to blot me out with a toss of her head. I assumed it was fate to know such suffering and grief, but how long would one have to deal with the ramifications of a mistake before it became dwelling? As the thoughts wrought and roiled through my mind, I tried my best to maintain a sense of awareness if only for Murdock’s sake.

I was quickly losing myself to the day as the warmth along my back made my lids hover heavily near sleep; it wouldn’t be long before the haziness of sadness and wholehearted longing overcame me, and somewhere in the depth of it all I felt the need to be alone. I was grateful for my friend’s company, but sometimes it was best to let sleeping dogs lie. Peering back at the stud with a woefully apologetic stare, I nodded slowly before saying, “My only child as a matter of fact. She was just a filly when I left the Edge. I imagine she’s a bright, young mare now… However, I haven’t seen her upon returning and I can only assume that she’s wandered off, surely harboring great hate in her heart.” For me .

At times I would ponder what she would say to me, what she would think of me… or worse, what she wouldn’t. With the sea roaring incessantly before me, I shook my heavy face in order to remind myself of whom and where exactly I was. Of course I would find her again someday and I’d be none the worse for wear because of it. However, the burden of my guilt had made me weary and speaking of my only child without knowing truly if she were alive and well made me foggy. Everything around me appeared to be shrouded in mist and not the friendly, giggling mist of the edge… it was a dark, dense fog that wrapped around my shoulders and squeezed into my lungs until I felt I couldn’t breathe.

Turning away from Murdock and the great lady that washed up along the rocks, I paused searching for the words that would eventually lead us all back together. “She’s out there somewhere my friend. It’s just a matter of time before you meet her, you’ll see.” Slowly, I stretched my thick face around to face the inky stallion, now my only true friend and said, “Thank you Murdock. You’ve done too much for me… entirely too much. You’ll be seeing me again, but I think I need a rest. Memories don’t sit easy within a tired mind.” With that, I made a resolution to resume our conversation another time, if only to see him again and prove the value of our newfound friendship. I’d unloaded so many problems unto him that I felt I needed to bear some of his in return. That day would come… it had to. I owed this stallion so much already.