KAHLUA & KHAN

Kahlua had a lot of ideas about children and the responsibilities they entailed. She had a lot of ideas about the way, when they were born, that they tied shackles around their mothers’ hooves and tied them into place. She had ideas about how bars rose from the ground, a floor and a lid, a lock closed tightly, the key swallowed. When one was a mother, they could not do anything else. She had seen it with Brisa, so tied down by her twins. She had seen it with Aly, who constantly had to run back to her home to check upon her son. Kahlua could not do that to herself. Freedom was her oxygen, her blood, her heart, her lungs, her brain. And it was for that reason that she had been forced to lie to Kaj, to tell him that she did not love him, that they couldn’t be together, that they were not meant for one another. It killed her to say that to him, and yet… loving him meant killing herself, in her eyes. So perhaps she was being selfish, but at least she was staying alive.

At least for now, as she looked down at the filly, she could pretend that she didn’t believe those things, because the words that fell from the child’s mouth were so perfect that Kahlua could do nothing but break into a brilliant round of laugher, her voice overlaying the giggle of the young one. Weren’t they just the truth? Kahlua never paid attention when she was too busy moving- or any other time, really, for that matter. For instance, in this moment, she didn’t really notice the nervous flutter of the child’s wings, because her eyes had trained back upon the dragon fledgling who was growing more insistent in his attempts to garner the girl’s attention. Moving to her back end, the dragon began to swat at her tail, opening his mouth and attempting to breath frozen air the way Tinek had before. Nothing came out, of course, but try he did. Some day he would learn to be strong like that massive silver was.

“Oh, you weren’t being rude at all. Don’t worry. Kahlua is fine, really!” Kahlua said, hardly missing a beat as Myrrine apologized. She was used to such comments by now, but she never asked for respect or demanded that others bow to her. She would never say no, of course, for she did have a vain side; however, there was no need for anyone to go out of their way for her. Not like she would even notice. Though the young child was quiet after that, Kahlua did not find it difficult to make conversation. Still, she did not desire to overwhelm the little one, so she started with something easy. “So… Where is your mother? How did you get here?” Patiently, she waited for an answer, letting her easy smile remain on her face. Though Myrrine was a child, she was a new face and a new friend. It was more than Kahlua had been able to say about anyone else in a long time.

@[Myrrine]