Alanna had led me here, and at first I had balked. Why should I come be in a herd that knew nothing of me. Why should I bow to what my absent father wanted? Okay, so I was going to join the first time until I saw them. I saw the painted mare and the way my Father fawned over her. He had never been that way with Mother.... I don't understand why, Mother had been well a good Mother the short time she had been around. I still don't understand why she has left me now. But currently I have no one, and the safety of a herd and the company of my only parent trumps whatever feelings I have about him and another mare. 

So here I am, trying again. This time I don't have an escort. In fact Alanna and my Father are no where to be found. Maybe this is a good thing. I have time to see just how I fit in, and if they will want my Father's bastard child around. Do they even know about me? I doubt it. I need to stop worrying about that now.

Wait, what's that over there? I move towards it carefully, trying not to look like i'm sneaking into the Falls when technically i'm doing just that. But something is pulling me closer to this, this thing. I have to know what it is and I need to know before someone arrives and tries to take it away from me. 

"Talk"

Whatever it is, I find it first.

Something about the object emanates warmth. I find it when I run my nose through the frosty leaf litter, when I lead myself along with hums that reverberate in my chest. I feel as if I am barely breathing. My senses are overcome with the soft scents of mold, of the earth's frozen turning.

And then there is the thing. Warm and vaguely round, undeniably present. It exudes energy. It's the kind of thing that would whisper to me, if I were mad, to come closer. To touch. To feel. To claim.

Lucky for the rightful owner of the thing, I'm not that confident. I hear the crack of another set of approaching hooves and I step back instantly, my white hoof my only support as I bunch my haunches to alleviate the pressure on my spine. My ears are tossed back, my stance becomes immediately defensive. Not of the object, for I know well enough that it is not my prize to defend. No, I defend only myself.

Like a coward, unknowingly watched over always by his father, I stand submissive before the shadow of a mere sound. A stranger approaches and I cannot even call out to keep them at bay. Will they expect me, when they push their body through the brush? Will they even notice me, my body a muted gray that blends with the mist of this cold day? My gold eyes flash, revealing my weaknesses.

Have I always been so afraid?

""

Brisa & Hikari

Lifting her nose to the air it is a new scent that catches the white mare's attention as she lounges along the shoreline of the river. Hikari rests by her feet but is instantly alert as voices trickle their way above the gentle sounds of running water. Swiveling her ears around to try and pick out the voices she finds herself unsuccessful thanks to the other background noise. Turning to her left and stepping over her over curious kitsune pup the mare walks quietly through the new grasses following the scent and the sounds of the newcomer wondering who it could be that dared to cross the borders without permission. Hikari soon follows in her footsteps eager to try and be of some help in searching for whatever had caught their interest. Nose to the ground and tails at attention the young kitsune tries her best to be the first one to find the source of the scent.

Following Hikari in a couple circles to humor the young pup the pale mare soon starts leading the way to where the voices originated from. It would take some practice for the pup to hone into her senses so for now she would take the lead and try to steer her in the right direction. It didn't take long for the pair to spot the intruder and two of her herd mates standing around looking down as something in the grass. Moving along casually so not to startle the youngsters and the pegasus she watches as Hikari continues with her nose to the ground without paying attention to where she was going. Nickering softly to draw the attention to herself she stops nearby to take a look at the lovely egg that lay there perfectly just waiting for someone to find it.

"Hello there." She comments gently lifting her head slightly to allow her long locks to fall away from her face to expose her bright blue eyes. "My name is Brisa and this is Hikari. I am the Mason of the Falls." She asks letting her eyes sweep over the young boy before her who is closest to the egg before taking in the other two. Milo she recognized briefly from the last herd meeting and Azoth she only knew as she caught his introduction. "It's good to meet you all. Azoth, Milo and who might you be?" She questioned her eyes turning to Brendan as a soft smile turned her lips.


"Brisa Speaks"

I was not the first to find the object. Another boy, who is around my age technically found it first. However it is I who attempts to take it as my own. The pull coming from it, I don't understand it. But I will soon enough. As the older colt shifts backward I step over the egg protectively, and in the same motion claiming it as my own. As more arrive, I begin to tremble. What would happen if they don't know my Father. What would happen if they don't know him and I am not welcome here like I thought I was. Or worse, that Father does not come because he does not want me here?

The first to speak is a stallion with wings. I eye him, ever curious. He seemed, familiar somehow. He spoke to the other boy first, before giving his name. "I'm Azoth" It's his next question that causes me to speak up. "Do you either of you know what this is? Forgive me, I'm new." "If the stories my Father told me are right, it's a companion egg." The egg shifts slightly at my front hooves and begins to shake.

Another arrives, this time a mare. I want to relax but I can't. There are so many around, and I just want to keep the egg safe. It continues to shake and tremble as the mare speaks. "Hello there." "H-hello." She keeps on talking, which in a way takes the focus off of both myself and the egg for a few more moments. "My name is Brisa and this is Hikari. I am the Mason of the Falls." She greets the other two before turning back to me. "I'm B-Brendan. Aaron the Conscript is my Father." Right as I mention my father's name the egg suddenly makes a loud cracking sound. I stepped back carefully in fear that I had crushed the egg. It was not the case.

Out of the egg rolls a strange pup. Her blue merle coat was marked with strange bluish green markings. Her eyes were also the same bluish green. The moment our eyes met, I felt it. Something inside me pulled not only me to the pup, but her to me. I gasp in shock, as she moves to me. I look wildly at the adults, as I have no idea about how one becomes bonded... But suddenly I feel hungry, but yet I myself am not hungry. "I I think she's mine... Or i'm her's... Or..." I look to the only other one who seemed to have a companion. "Did I just bond with her?"

"Talk"

Azoth's kindness is both sudden and unexpected. He comes as if from nowhere, a curious looking beast bearing wings. He looks like a creature of the hot sun, and yet... he is here. When he asks if I am lost I only blink and shake my head slowly. Does he not recognize my scent, does he not know that this is my home? That this is, at least, the place where I was born?

No, it's this other one, the boy with the egg, who is lost. I'm fearful but wanting to defend somehow, lacking all capability, as he pushes straight into the territory and claims the object. Surely it is his if it calls to him, surely it's his right, but...

This isn't his home. It's mine, it's my father's, it's Archibald's, it's Brisa's--Brisa, who walks now into the scene with Hikari by her side. I'm thankful that she introduces me. It seems somehow the herd as a whole has managed to pick up my name from my family and tell others of it whenever they arrive. I am not my father, seeking to live out a life without an identity, so let them all talk on my behalf.

The egg then shifts and cracks before the boy, revealing a small, canine-like creature. It watches him, catches his gaze with perfect blue eyes, and I understand even before the boy (Brendan, son of someone that sounds familiar enough) speaks what is happening.

A bond.

Jealously flares up inside of me, red, hot, and angry. It's a new feeling, something almost rage-like that I don't recognize or expect. So the egg held a companion, all this time? And I found it, I held it in my eyes for one lonesome sole moment, too scared to move closer. Was this egg really bound to this colt from the start, or could it have been mine? I look at the pup, clearly magic in some way given its markings, and feel some sort of hate for the boy it has chosen.

NO! I scream in my mind, my eyes suddenly wide and wild. Brisa's companion and this boy's new one, both canines, are too much. I take a few brave steps closer to the boy, trying to shove myself between him and his new "bonded," and snap my teeth at the younger colt in warning. He's in all likelihood stronger than me, but this is my home, and that should have been my egg. Regardless of what the little pup thinks (it's so new to this world, how could it know it had made a mistake?) the egg should have been mine.

I step forward again, my hindquarters hitching to the right and pinching me, only fueling the anger further. I try to separate the colt and companion, try to force myself against love in its purest form.

It should be mine.

""