'Go. Please.''You deserve a chance at freedom, Lil. Live.'
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It had been a quiet morning away from her mate, and he had tasked her with collecting herbs for the journey ahead. The pair were set on a new path back into the desert, and Lillian thought it best if they stock up on as many plants in the jungle as they could, before the jungle was thousands of miles behind them. As a nomadic partner of a traveling healer, Lillian had come to love this routine of....never quite having a routine, and the spontaneity had kept her heart aflame.
She loved the desert, because Rabi loved the desert. It would be good to return.
She stood in the middle of a circle of massive trees, sunlight shining through the canopy above. Her breathing stilled, as she listened to the sounds of the world around her. The thousands of birds that nestled in the branches far above her head were singing the usual morning song, and the thick brush whistled as the land-creatures darted too and from their dens. The hymns of the desert were no less welcoming, but vastly different than the warmth that life in the jungle provided. She'd miss this. The mare drew her face to the floor, taking in a long breath as she sniffed the dirt beneath her hooves - and then back out again. It hadn't rained in a few days, so the ground had gone dry, almost stale, which made it more difficult to pinpoint the herbs she had been looking for, but she could still find them.
A few bunnies pranced around the tree to her left, and she giggled, intending on enlisting their help to locate the one very specific colorful flower that Rabi had requested. The bunnies always seemed to know where every tasty flower was in these parts.
Lillian turned her head to speak, when she caught a glimpse of something she had seen...in years.
A blue flower, growing out of the moss in the hollowed out gap in an old tree - a Clematis - if she remembers the name Rabi had once said.
Memories came flooding back, hitting her like a storm.
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A young mare, barely out of foalhood, and her family was at odds with the neighboring herds. There had been a war - of what cause she hadn't known - but there was anger. Madness. Destruction. Her family was that of a warrior's herd - her father a brave knight of whom legends would surely be told - and all of the rest of her family had been raised to fight. They called themselves protectors of these lands, fighting off fiends and shifters and anything else that threatened the sanctity of the life they had dear.
Even the mares of the herd had been raised to fight - all except the littlest one - the young mare who didn't dare hurt a fly. She'd cry at the sight of a little lost squirrel, so no, knighthood was not her path. And yet she stood, however small, in the middle of the battlefield, anxious and lost and confused.
'What are you doing out here, Lillian? Mother told you to hide, did she not?', came a voice from behind her, and she felt her small frame get shoved forward, as if by a tidal wave. 'This isn't the place for you, princess,' it wasn't meant condescendingly, and it filled the young mare with a sense of security knowing her big brother was right beside her. She hadn't a memory of how she had managed to make her way here, but a glance in any direction and she'd have seen bloodshed. The shifters had come, and they were not prepared.
'Henry, I'm scared', the young mare managed a whisper, bright yellow eyes tearing into his own. He had been a hardened warrior, a proud, brave, stalwart member of the herd, and he was admired by all - especially his baby sister. Henry could do no wrong, and now that he was here, she'd be okay.
His eyes turned, a deep sorrow now reflecting from within his soul, as he knew there was only one option. She'd have to flee. Mother and Father were on the front lines, and if he had called out to them, he'd make their presence known, and Lillian could not withstand an attack from the outsiders.
He smiled at her, a somber expression quickly changing so she wouldn't realize what he was about to do until it was too late. 'Lillian, quickly, follow me', and he shoved her deeper into the thickness of the trees. They had made it about a mile away from the herdlands, the sounds of battle just drums in the distance, and he was crying. Crying for the decision he was making without consulting the rest of his siblings, or their parents. As the eldest child, he knew he'd have responsibilities that were heartbreaking, and this - he realized - was just the first of many. If he'd make it out alive. When they stopped, he cast his eyes downward at the shaking young mare at his hooves, and began, 'Lillian, I need you to listen to me. You're not a warrior, you're a princess. You help, you heal. This isn't the life you were meant to live, and I love you so very much - I cannot watch you die.'
Cannot watch you die, like I will surely watch our parents die, he thought, but did not dare say out loud. Before she had a chance to respond, he started up again, 'Lil. Go. Please. You deserve a chance at freedom. Make your own story, and one day we'll see each other again.' His eyes darted in their surroundings, settling on a large, blue flower that stood out by itself amongst all the green, and nodded towards it. 'See that? It's you, a beautiful blue flower amongst all the boring grass. It has survived. Please Lil. Leave.'
A blood-curdling scream in the distance, barely audible, but they both recognized, in their soul, the voice of that of their mother's. Henry's eyes darkened. He didn't turn down to look at his baby sister, and instead took off back in the direction of the battle. He knew she wouldn't be able to keep up with his pace, her legs were too little still, and her sense of direction was too undeveloped to make any headway back to the herdlands without help. He was leaving her. Without a goodbye.
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What he never knew was that the young mare stayed by that stupid blue flower for days, too scared to move, and hopeful he'd return.
It had been so long ago, and Lillian barely remembered the events of that day anymore. She was a new mare, her own mare - just like Henry had wished for her. She had made a life for herself being kind to the earth and it's creatures, and she had fallen in love with a healer - not a warrior - a healer, and so her life was safe. Lillian had never looked back since leaving the spot her brother had left her, she had traveled, onward and upward, thankful he had given her her life that day. In the few days that followed that event, Lillian was confused and lost, but never resentful, she knew he had done what was necessary to protect her. So she picked herself up off the ground, and promised herself she'd be okay.
And she was. She was alive and in love and had a plethora of Soquili who depended on her duties.
But looking at this singular blue flower in the middle of the jungle, she couldn't help but wonder what had become of her family. What they were like. She barely remembered any of them - their names, their likes and dislikes. How many of them had survived that day? Or the war at all?
A sigh. It did not do well to dwell on the past. Rabi and their story, this was her present, and their kids would be her future. Her past was simply just a chapter of her life, and one that her brother had written for her. A small smile had crept it's way onto her face as she walked towards the blue flower, thinking of his comparison to her that day. What would she had said to him in response, if given the chance? She may have tried to run after him, if her little legs would have carried her, but fear had frozen her to the ground, and so all she could do was watch at his large frame took off in the distance, ready and willing to die to protect the ones he loved. Lillian wondered what become of him, most of all - the charming, handsome stallion that would have driven any mare wild had he lived beyond that day. She looked down at the flower, a sad expression forming on her otherwise cheerful demeanor; if he had made it, was he happy, too?
Henry was her savior, her knight in shining armor, and she never got to say thank you.
