the Rift


[PRIVATE] With every broken bone, I swear I lived

Erthë Posts: 440
Outcast atk: 5.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 5.5
Filly :: Hybrid :: 14,2 hh :: 3 years HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Chan
#1

In the still air, slow plumes of air rose up to join the eternal mist as Erthë heaved a deep sigh. She watched the glittering fumes, absently trailing the half-frozen patterns that formed as her cold breath swirled and moved, a languid dance that spoke of quiet times, contentment and lazy relaxation.

It lied.

Though comfortable in the cooling temperatures, far more so than most of her kin, Erthë felt no internal peace as she gazed out into the mist. Once, not so very long ago, the soft white wall would have provided comfort and eased her mind, allowed her to settle into the muffled silence without a care in the world. She would have been content, confident that she was safe, sheltered amidst friends in the heart of the forest she had come to love so dearly, and all would have been well.

But today the mist gave her no comfort. Indeed, it felt close and stifling instead, a choking blanket that filled her airways with every breath, as though intent on smothering her. There was no peace in the silence that hovered over the Edge. Rather it was a breath held in waiting, the still silence before the first clap of thunder, the silence between roars before the giant wave comes crashing down. Tense, brooding, looming. Erthë felt as though her entire skin was prickling with foreboding, and as her eyes strained to discern detail in the close surroundings her ears were erect, alert; twitching at the slightest sound, as though were she ready to bolt at a moments notice.

It was torture, to not know what was happening in the world. Even worse - being unable to do anything to help either herself or anyone else.

Again she sighed, and shifted her weight to another leg.

If only the Lady would return. Surely everything would be fine as long as their Moon was there to sweep her dark wings over them, and shelter them from the storm that brewed on the horizon.

Ah, if wishes were gold.

Big girls cry when their hearts are breaking
image credit to Neaqmir on deviantart.com


@Maude

~| Use of magic and violence is always permitted |~
~| Please only tag in opening posts |~

Maude Posts: 140
World's Edge Filly
Filly :: Unicorn :: 15.3 :: Yearling
Bunnie
#2

There was little to do but feel… disappointed.

It was a strange feeling, for Maude, to have her hope all but staunched in the onslaught of badness that life had become.  First, her mother had vanished, which, of course, had done little to deter her breezy heart.  She’ll come home, the darling assured herself, as she had before, because the world always brought the ones you loved back to you.  But then her Aunt had broken a rift between her brothers, and in the wake of it all, her father had decided to leave on a quest, and her Uncle had fallen into the mists, becoming all but a memory.  

Aelfwine had not come back to visit, and neither had Ultima.  Her mother still had not come home.

And now?  Now, it seemed as if the world was ending (if the way the adults were all acting was any clue), and Maude was all but alone for this clamorous era.  The thought was oppressive, intrusive, and even though she wandered the wood seeking solace, the forest offered her no reprieve, but for the soft sound of its branches being ushered about by the chilly wind.  

At least, she thinks to herself, I still have my cloak, and am not cold.

How curious that such a thought would arrive to her mind as she rounds a wooded bend to find one who was always cold standing in the treeless clearing, staring absently at the mists.  At first, Maude is wary that she is being deceived by some illusion of loneliness, for the figure caught in the ebb of mist is one she has not seen in some time.  Feeling a curious rush of excitement and trepidation, the girl pauses, her antlered crown lifting so allow her pale, green eyes to fasten themselves upon the apparition of her friend, every facet of the ginger and cream maiden unsure of the moment as she tentatively lifts her tender voice to the breezy air.

Erthë?” she questions, she prays, her heart hollowing out as the syllables reach forward to either draw the woman’s pale eyes to her, or to chase the cruel ghost away; already, wetness brims along the milky lashes of her bottom lid, unbidden and restrained by an emotional force that is unused to the strain of how very sad this world can be, at times, “i-is that really you?





so give me hope in the Darkness
that I will see the Light
Art by neverrmind @ DA
Hold onto this lullaby, even when the music's gone.

Erthë Posts: 440
Outcast atk: 5.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 5.5
Filly :: Hybrid :: 14,2 hh :: 3 years HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Chan
#3

Though always surrounded by the familiar faces of the herd, though her generous heart found family and friend in every stranger she met on the road, there were those who managed to carve out a special place for themselves within her heart. Erthë could never quite say why certain people warmed her soul more than others, nor who might come to take up those precious spaces. Some she only met rarely, once upon a blue moon and always in passing, yet their presence in the world still managed to give her something more than mere pleasant words could account for. Others, fortunately, had been placed right beside her on the winding road through life, and the small mare found that she always appreciated crossing paths with them.

Stirred by the presence of the approaching filly, the moon-colored mare turned and greeted the girl with a soft smile, one that thawed the wary impatience from her pale eyes and lent them a new warmth.

"Hello Maude" she said. "You have grown since last I saw you... Are you taller than me yet?"

Easing herself out of the stiff vigilance, Erthë padded across the damp earth and reached out to pull the young girl into a cold embrace. It never ceased to astound her how fast foals grew. It seemed only yesterday that this little ray of sunshine came dancing into the world, and now it would not be long before Erthë would have to crane her neck to look her in the eyes.

"Are you well? And your parents?"

Big girls cry when their hearts are breaking
image credit to Neaqmir on deviantart.com


@Maude

~| Use of magic and violence is always permitted |~
~| Please only tag in opening posts |~

Maude Posts: 140
World's Edge Filly
Filly :: Unicorn :: 15.3 :: Yearling
Bunnie
#4

As Maude calls to her, Erthë turns about with a smile, and the tears that had been held back freely wend their way down her milky cheeks. With a jubilant leap and a plentiful streaming of rippling mane and fluttering cloth, the girl surges forward to meet her friend, the two of them enfolding in an embrace that fills Maude with honey-sweet warmth she had been ever so desperate for. The curt question is answered with a giggle, and a grin, her neck closing fast about the chilly, moonlight body of her friend.

Her cheerful tears staunch in time with the downturn of her smile Erthë’s second question makes her pull away. Looking down and out into the mist with damp cheeks, she sighs, suddenly reminded that she is absolutely terrible, despite her greatly missed friend’s return.

I… I’m okay, I guess,” she answers, at first, but with an emotional hiccup she crestfallenly sweeps her nose down towards her chest, two more hot beads of saline making tracks down her face. When she manages an answer to the second question, it is not entirely true, or even descriptive, but it is all she can manage without dissolving into a blubbering mess. “They’re away.

Fastening upon the gift of hope that Erthë had unintentionally brought back with her, however, the almost grown filly looks back up, a smile replacing the sadness that had existed there, as she’d stared at the ground. This wasn’t a time to be sad! This was a time to be happy that the chilly, warm hearted Erthë had come home at last.

You’re back, though! Where did you go? Was it fun?” she machine gun inquires, with a wide grin and bouncy hooves – at least, until she’s suddenly struck with a thought, and filled with an insatiable frustration. She’d left! And hadn’t said goodbye, either! Maude’s brows furrow down over her suddenly much more stern expression, her lower lip pouting out in a dramatic display of just how very mad she was that Erthë had just left without a word of farewell. Why did everyone always do that? It was just so… so… mean! “Why didn’t you say goodbye?





so give me hope in the Darkness
that I will see the Light
Art by neverrmind @ DA
Hold onto this lullaby, even when the music's gone.

Erthë Posts: 440
Outcast atk: 5.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 5.5
Filly :: Hybrid :: 14,2 hh :: 3 years HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Chan
#5

It was so unusual to see Maude do anything but smile that the sight of her tears rooted Erthë to the ground more effectively than any spell of magic. A thousand horrible possibilities swept through her mind, already so prepared to believe the worst, and it seemed like forever before the girl managed to sooth them with a few quiet words. Yet the slender little mare, hardly more than a filly herself, knew all too well the feelings that must hide behind the quiet 'They're away'. She had been left behind too, by a father whose home was the entirety of the world and a mother who couldn't stop searching for the child she lost, and it was not until she put down roots in the Edge that she found solace from the loneliness.

"It's okay to not be okay" she said quietly, concern drawing premature wrinkles around the eyes as she reached over to brush away the tears from the girls golden cheeks. "I know it's hard, but try not to worry too much. They will come back for sure, and everything will be alright again."

At least, Erthë really hoped so. She had no idea why Tilney would leave his daughter behind, or where Arah could have disappeared off to. More had happened in the past season than she had counted on, and it made her wish she had been sensible enough to stick around herself.

Reading the emotions of her young friend as they flashed across Maude's face, Erthë made a small, wry grimace.

"I am sorry for disappearing" she replied, "I did not intend to be gone for so long. I wanted some peace and quiet to study, and perhaps I got a bit too much of it. Before I knew it time had passed and the days were growing short again... "

She sighed. It had been a good time, spent in her own company for the most part, and she had learned much - about the world, about herself and the way she viewed life - but now that she was home, the restless unease of the herd and Helovia in general made her feel guilty for indulging in herself like this.

"Did anything noteworthy happen in the herd while I was away? I know the Lady has left us, but not much else... How is Tembovu, and Alysanne? How is the herd?"

Raising a wing to drape it over Maude's back, Erthë found that she had to reach up quite a bit further than she had in the past. It made her feel old somehow, even though the difference in age between herself and the little cloud was less than two years.

It was enough; two years was after all two thirds of Erthë's whole lifespan, and it would take a great many more years before the gap would truly become meaningless.

Big girls cry when their hearts are breaking
image credit to Neaqmir on deviantart.com


@Maude

~| Use of magic and violence is always permitted |~
~| Please only tag in opening posts |~

Maude Posts: 140
World's Edge Filly
Filly :: Unicorn :: 15.3 :: Yearling
Bunnie
#6

The touch of Erthë’s lips as she carefully wiped away her tears only made more, until, hopelessly, Maude felt them moving one after the other. She supposed it was okay to be sad and lonely, but she also wanted to be brave, and to have faith, as her mother had always told her she was supposed to. It was very difficult, though, especially the more nights that passed in which was by herself, her night time songs no longer earning praise or minor modifications from her half asleep father.

Sniffling and sighing, she does her best to contain herself. No one understands anyone who is crying, she reminds herself. Well, except maybe snot people, if there were such things.

I think so too,” she softly says, because, deep down, she does.

Her uplifted mood and minor grumpiness is well received by her kind friend, and with a softening expression and a warm smile, the antlered maiden meets Erthë’s eyes with a much less severe glance.

It’s okay,” she answers, immediately forgiving her friend, and understanding, too, how new things could lure adventurers like she and Erthë, especially, further and further away, “I’d probably have gotten distracted too.

The next question has a lot of answers, and Maude’s smile falters into an expression of pondering as she tries to think of everything. After a short while, she starts, some of it sad, and some of it happy, and her expressions, and the rapidity and cheer of her voice, bound up and down depending on the topic.

Well… Mr. Tembovu had to go on a quest somewhere, so Miss Lyanna is Queen now, and they say the Earth’s daughter was our Seer for a while, but I didn’t ever meet her. She definitely did make a hot tub over in the big clearing there though, and it’s freaking huge. Otherwise, everyone is really worried about that Kaos guy. We were all working on making the Moon a temple, before…” she sighs, softly, and avoids the eminent horror, as she always does; it’s easier to pretend its not happening, after all, “anyway, I grew some glow cherry tree saplings for it, like the ones you and I shared. Daddy and I planted them alongside the path leading to the temple in the early fall, before the ground froze. They seem much happier in real ground, and are growing pretty fast.





so give me hope in the Darkness
that I will see the Light
Art by neverrmind @ DA
Hold onto this lullaby, even when the music's gone.


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