GREEN
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2143 11.74 KB 149
2143 11.74 KB 149
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>Fallen leaves crunch under your boots as you make your way through the forest to the Garden.
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>Under Noire’s hooves, too; she accompanies you this time through your trek through the woods of thinning canopy and fading foliage.
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>A lot has changed about it in the short time since you last walked this path; time and its seasons march on.
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>”How long has it been since we have made this trip together?”
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“Long time. I was down there myself awhile back ago on my own, but…”
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>When you don’t complete the sentence, Noire looks to the maul resting on your shoulder. “When I have gathered food lately, you have been splitting firewood.”
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“Gotta keep warm. I don’t have a coat like you. Or-”
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>You gesture at her mane.
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“-fire running down my neck.”
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>She laughs, and continues in a mocking tone, “If I knew that thing would take your time from me, I would not have made it.”
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“I like it though. As a personal gift from you.”
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>You reach over her back to pat her on her far shoulder.
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>You’ve been indulging in some physical contact, treating her like the horse she loosely resembles, though her differences in anatomy require some gestures to be modified.
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>You’re still not sure exactly what you mean to her, but she never refuses it.
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>Sleeping together explodes any limitation on personal distance, you think.
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>Oh, right.
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“I had a dream last night. I think it was like the nightmare I had a week ago.”
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>She looks to you, humor chased from her eyes by worry. “Are you alright?”
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“Yeah. This one wasn’t as bad. I think the only reason I remember it is because they were so similar, but I can kinda piece together what the nightmare was like from it.”
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>”How were they similar?”
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“I was surrounded by our creations both times. In the first, I was stuck. They were all staring at me, and I couldn’t speak or move. But this time I could move, and didn’t need to speak. They weren’t waiting on me for anything, they were just… there. Doing their own thing.”
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>She looks back ahead. “You said I was not there, in the nightmare.”
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“You, uh, you weren’t there this time either. But they didn’t expect anything of me. I think I just didn’t want to be put in what felt like your place.”
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>A long silence, and when she speaks again, she is quiet. “I still have not experienced a dream.”
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“Ah, you’ll get there, don’t worry.”
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>”I am glad you are feeling better, though!” A chipper tone quickly replaces her concern.
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“I think it was from the last time I was here.”
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>You wave a hand at the entrance to the clearing, ahead.
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“I saw a few of the pegasi, and they were wary of me.”
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>”I do not see why you would feel good about that.”
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“Like I said, it was a lack of expectation. In the end, I was just another creature, to them.”
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>You hear a loud snap ahead.
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>Both of you stop, and you grab your maul in both hands.
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“Speak of the devil.”
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>”We have not yet made one that may appear, Anon.”
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“How good are your eyes?”
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>”Better than theirs.”
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“Theirs?”
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>”You thought correctly. A pegasi has been tracking our trek from the air.”
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“And you didn’t tell me?”
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>She finally looks back at you. “You were happy you were beneath notice.”
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“I prefer you favor truth over my feelings.”
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>”I will be honest then, and say I did not think much of it.”
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“Alright, fine.”
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>You relax, and rest the maul back on your shoulder.
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>You can trust her instinct about these things, you think.
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>Once you two enter the clearing, you have to stop again in surprise at what you see.
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>”I guess,” Noire starts, amusement coloring her voice, “you are not as overlooked as you believe.”
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>A branch of the Heart of the Garden is stuck into the ground, about where you’d sat in contemplation a week ago.
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>It still has all its leaves; the Heart didn’t fade with the trees surrounding it.
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>It’s still hosting pristine fruit, so it must have been put there very recently.
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>It probably was that sound you heard.
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>As you approach it, Noire speaks again. “She must have been watching to see if you would come back, to give you this offering.”
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“I gave them a branch not much bigger than this, when we saw each other. They couldn’t harvest everything.”
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>”It must be in thanks, then.”
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>You pick the branch up with your free hand.
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>Then look around the clearing.
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>No ponies in sight.
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>If they understood your phrases when they were first made, they should understand your speech still.
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“You can come out!”
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>At first, no response.
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>Then two heads peek around one side of the Heart’s trunk.
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>Two pegasi hesitantly walk around it, then towards you, in slow and cautious steps.
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>A third head pokes out from the leaves and branches of the tree itself.
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>This one was the mare who put herself between you and the other two.
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>She glides out from the branches to follow her friends on the ground, then gets ahead of them with her more confident progress.
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“That one.”
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>You gesture at the approaching mare.
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“That one wanted to protect the other two from me.”
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>The other two pick up their own pace in her wake, and the three of them reach you as a group with the lead mare still in front.
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>You and Noire stand side-by-side, watching them with some degree of confusion.
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>Once they stop before you, they don’t look much more sure what’s going on than you.
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>Noire makes the first move.
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>All their heads jerk towards her, as if just noticing her.
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>That may be in fact what just happened; their eyes were fixed on you until now.
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>She must be an imposing figure; half again the height of the lead mare, charcoal grey to their pastel coats, mane billowing smoke behind that glowing orange halo-crown of hers.
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>You’ve had months to adapt to her appearance.
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>What would they think, seeing it for the first time?
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>The couple shrinks back.
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>But the mare in front is bolder
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>With a few steps forward, she meets Noire’s advance.
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>She looks up at Noire with something between awe and defiance.
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>Noire, for her part, looks amused. “You are a bold one.”
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>She then lowers her head to be eye-level with the pegasus. “May your descendants share the bravery you demonstrate.”
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>She looks to the two pegasi further back. “And may your loyalty to your companions be remembered and rewarded.”
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>When Noire glances back at you, the others do as well.
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>”Thank you,” Noire says to them, starting to walk back to your side, “for returning my dear friend’s efforts.”
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>You give them a wave as Noire reaches you.
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>The lead mare dips her head – not a bow, but more than a nod – and then the three take off, spiraling up into the sky above the clearing.
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>”It is good to see things moving along smoothly, for our creations,” Noire says, watching them depart.
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“Yeah, but I was thinking of something else.”
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>”Oh?” She looks from the sky back to you.
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“That was the first time any of our creations looked at you.”
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>You look over to meet her eyes.
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>She looks perplexed.
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>Had she not noticed, herself?
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>This whole time?
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“While we were creating them, they always looked at me after. Never you. That was the first time one of them acknowledged you. Honestly I was starting to wonder if you were invisible to them, and I was the only one who could see you.”
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>”I-” she looks to the ground, “-I never knew. I was caught up in the moment, I suppose.”
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>Then she looks back at you, and you see something change in her eyes. “But you noticed. Do you always look out for such disparities?”
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“When it comes to you, yeah. That was part of the nightmare too, I think. They always saw me, never you. Like you didn’t exist to them.”
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>You wave a hand vaguely skyward.
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“But now I have a satisfying answer. You’re a part of their world after all.”
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>Noire says nothing, but paces forward to where the pegasi couple had hid behind the tree.
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>Then, up into its branches, where the other mare had hidden.
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>You can see it in her eyes when fruit catches her attention, and brings her back to the present.
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>”Ah, but we should gather our own food before it is dark.”
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“And it’s getting dark earlier, nowadays.”
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>You walk to her side, then grab her wings.
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>She starts in your clutches, but lets you manipulate her feathery limbs, and you can feel their sinewy yet strong muscles relax in your grip.
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“They held their wings like this-”
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>You move Noire’s to stay like the pegasi had cupped theirs to carry fruit.
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“-and loaded the fruit on their backs.
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>”But I have magic to lift them.”
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“Well try it this way. Just to get a feel for how they do it, I guess.”
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>The two of you gathered your crop quickly, with her magic pulling higher fruit while you lopped off lower branches with your maul.
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>The one you’d cut a week ago, you notice, had regrown already.
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>Good to know the tree’s remarkable regeneration was not just limited to its many fruit.
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>By the time you were done, Noire had a large pile on her back, held in place with her wings as well as her magic.
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>Dusk did not threaten your trip home; your statement had been an exaggeration, but getting up with the sun rather than to a clock during shorter days meant it was already afternoon by the time you arrived, and the sun would be setting as you reached home again.
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“You know…”
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>You brush a particularly thick clump of leaves on the path out of your way with a boot
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“We should probably make a clock or something. Time’s gonna get crunched with shorter days. Waking up, breakfast, and this trip took all our daylight.”
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>To be fair, getting out of bed was a little harder as of late.
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>”Time…”
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>Noire looks to the sun.
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>Without squinting, you notice.
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>”Of the many peculiarities I live under, now, time is the strangest. How the spin and tilt and passage of the planet relative to the sun defines life on the world I could not really contemplate until you showed me sleep, and the necessity of generating one’s own warmth.”
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“Yeah, we’re shaped by it in a lot of ways.”
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>”And the illuminator of the world is its visible face. I think I understand, now, why in your myths the sun was considered such a primordial deity. The way it interacts with the world would make it seem the governor of time.”
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“The day and the year, yeah. Months were usually about the moon, but even our ancestors had all sorts of structures that would track the progress of the year by the sun itself.”
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>”The seasons, too, would seem impacted by the sun’s whims, whether it decides to stay longer or shorter.”
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>She looks at the fallen leaves around her hooves, then back to the Garden. “The tree will continue to provide sustenance for those on the island, but some carnivorous creatures will hibernate as well, and those feeding off plants will have a more difficult time. Winter’s approach, I think, will be our creation’s first true test.”
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“Will they come out okay?”
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>”I do not see why they should not.”
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“But you can’t see the future anymore.”
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>Noire nods.
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“Well…”
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>You brush aside another accumulation of leaves, and turn your attention further down the path.
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“Today was a heartening display, with you and the pegasi. I think when winter is over, we should do a big tour of this island. Hike all around it. We can check to see how they’ve fared personally.”
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>”Anon, I can always surveil them at a distance.”
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“Yeah but what is it you always say? Knowledge against experience.”
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>”What about it?”
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“I think such a trip would be the perfect way to introduce you personally to the rest of your creation.”
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>She flashes you a warm smile. “Yes, I think that would be a wonderful idea. You are right, today was enlightening in a way I could not normally see. I look forward to more of it.”
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“When the snow melts, we’ll start planning, then.”
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>”Snow?”
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>You laugh, then shake your head.
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“Oh boy, you’re in for a treat.”
by E4-NG
by E4-NG
by E4-NG
by E4-NG
by E4-NG