[imgright]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... nlight.gif[/imgright]

She could not see perfectly, her eyes were still bleary from opening, but she felt the sunlight warm on her face. She felt the goodness from those around her though they were too blurry to see properly. And she felt the warmth recede and the clouds covered up the sun.

She saw clearly the shadows that came down around her. She briefly startled, ears pressed back and down, then became amazed. She could see so many things. She glanced back as a sliver of sunlight lit the good ones then turned to the shadows. Unsteadily she trotted forward, curious to see what else the shadows would let her see. But as she came closer, the sunlight came out in strength and she stopped.

A fuzziness returned to the world and the goodness pressed in around her again. She folded her front legs and gracefully curled to nap, eyes closing in a silent sigh. She was so very tempted by the lull in sunlight as it hid behind clouds. There was so much to see in the shadows. And then she thought of the sparkle the sun cast on water and was, for now, content to bask in the warmth and wait.

[imgright]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... rtbeat.gif[/imgright]

He felt brave—a fearless strong buck of unending courage—as he stepped through the shifting swamp. There was nothing that could take him down, nothing that could scare him. And he strolled through as though mortality itself would not dare show its fearsome face to him.

His hooves sunk slightly in the mud and he took no notice of it. He turned his attention instead to the fragile blossom of a pink bud that tried valiantly to bloom in the shady area. That, that proved to be a grave mistake.

A crocodile camouflaged by the murky brown water took hold of chance. It lunged, jaws closing down around the hindquarter of the kimeti. The teeth sunk into tender hide and locked down tight.

He squealed and screamed, front legs trying desperately to pull himself from the grasp of the hungry beast. He kicked with his free hind leg. All the while that perfect little flower watched.

The beast jerked and the kimeti came into contact with the ground, now harsh and unforgiving. There was a tangy taste in his mouth as his eyes grew heavy, twitches and convulsions of fight lessening. And it was the sound of his heart, that bitter heartbeat, thudding in his ears that reproached him for his foolishness. He was not brave, he was stupid.

[imgright]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... gbones.gif[/imgright]


She feels tired, held to the point of constriction, within Mother Swamp's embrace. And it hurts.

It seeps down into her muscles, consumed by her very essence, and into her bones. And it aches.

When the sac breaks, she falls to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Wearily she lifts her head.

And despite the pain, she gets up.

[imgright]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... ircles.gif[/imgright]


"Lacks direction..."

"Floats aimless like a leaf on the wind..."

"Knows no difference from North or South..."

"Turns East then West and back again..."

"Travels in circles..."

And what Mother Swamp says must be true.

[imgright]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... gspell.gif[/imgright]


Eternity, a tapestry of life and lives, played.

It took but one moment. Not even a moment.

A mere breathing spell.

[imgright]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... wounds.gif[/imgright]


There is red, pulses of red flaring in front of his eyes, flashing in tandem with his pounding heart. It starts as a fresh stroked line before spidering out in veins of splintering pain. The red bleeds until the world is covered. And everything is hurt, wilting, dying.

He sucks in a sharp chilled tendril of air that soothes the rawness of his throat as it fills his lungs.

There is black and purple and blue and yellow and sometimes even green hugging the once red lines that have sun-dried brown, mahogany. Slowly the wounds thin and threads underneath the cuts bind what is broken back together. It takes the length of a footfall, a bow, a fight, a birth, ages and ages. But everything is repairing, beginning, healing.

[imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... ngeyes.gif[/imgright]


This kin does not yet have a naming dream posted.

[imgright]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... erfade.gif[/imgright]


There is a world before her eyes -- a vast land sprawled out before her -- as she curls up for a long slumber from which she shall not wake.

She has moved through the changing swamp and found herself changed, too. From a sprite-like curious foal to a fearless filly to a mother-hen doe.

It is coming to an end. She knows and accepts this. The swamp will still change but she will only change once more -- to the unmoving body of a dreamless sleeper.

And so she shuts her eyes that have seen for so long and rests her head down. Around her as she waits for the numb cloak to fall around her body, the swamp changes still.

But the memories. The memories never fade. And it is those that she sees and feels and experiences before she runs straight into the heavens.

[imgright]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... recede.gif[/imgright]

There is water.
Water everywhere.
Everywhere she looks.
There is water.

The plains are drowned.
Drowned beneath the rushing rapids.
Rapids that threaten to engulf her until she is drowned.
There is so much water.
The plains are drowned.

It is only in the far off distance --
Distance away from the waves
-- that something prevails, rises.
The horizon of endless water is broken.
Broken by the high trees of the swamp.
It is only in the far off distance.

Endless struggles are waged until she finds it.
There is water still but lessened.
Lessened and slowed into calm and lower.
Lower that the recession of waters make her hooves sink into mud.
Mud that will dry only when waters recede.
Endless struggles are waged until she find it.

There was water.
Water everywhere.
Everywhere she looked.
There was water.

But the waters ebbed --
She awoke.

[imgright]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... thesun.gif[/imgright]

The sun rises.

"I hate you."

"Yes. I think you mentioned that."

"Well I do. I hate you."

"Good to know." [pause] "How much?"

"How much what?"

"Do you hate me. How much do you hate me?"

"Oh." [pause] "Well I hate you a lot. I hate you more than I have hated anything in my life.
I hate you far more than anything I have seen. I hate you most out of all I have ever met."

"Not much then."

"I hate you with the power of the sun's pounding heat!
I hate you with the force of the crushing waves of an ocean falling on top of a foxbun!
I hate you with the burning of a fire destroying the swamp!"

"You think about me a lot then."

"What?" [pause] "No! I do not! Never, in fact. Never do I think of you."

"Right."

[pause]

"See you later."

"No you won't."

The sun sets.

"I love you."

"I know."

"You're supposed to say it back."

"I love me, too."

"You're terrible."

"But you love me."

"Motherfather knows why."

"It seems only fair that you should."

"Why?"

"Because I love you, too."

"That's nice." [pause] "Good night."

"Good night."

The sun rises.

"I hate you."

[imgright]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... flower.gif[/imgright]


Her breath blossoms as a fog. Cold. A mass that grows as time moves on.

The chill of her life settles over a small flower. Pale. Fragile unfurled petals are misted in ice crystals.

The frost kills that flower. She -- her breath -- kills. And it makes her weep.

[imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... ebells.gif[/imgright]


This kin does not yet have a naming dream posted.

[imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... lelies.gif[/imgright]


This kin does not yet have a naming dream posted.

[imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... ycharm.gif[/imgright]


This kin does not yet have a naming dream posted.