ALISTAIR

The unwanted prince of the Enchanted Vale often ventured though his father’s domain alone and today was certainly no different. Tenembrage was somewhere nearby for once, instead of taking his usual rounds to the Tarot and the forest and yet, despite his father’s presence, Lorelli had decided to continue her carefully planned aventure through their home land. The firefox had taken it upon herself to ensure that she knew every little aspect of the Vale and for the past week or so she had pulled a reluctant Alistair onwards to continue her diligent search for the unknown. Presently, the small red panda was running ahead of her companion, sticking her small black nose in every little hole, stumbling on every branch she attempted to climb and carrying on with a general amount of tomfoolery. Lorelli had always been the playful one out of the two, the one who had the child like demeanor and constantly wanted to play. Alistair, on the other hand, had gained his father’s outlook on the world. He was a quiet child, withdrawn from the world and took fascination within the small things his precious axian happened to stumble upon.


“Alistair! There’s something here! Quick, come look!” The equine boy sighed almost dramatically before making his way across the clearing towards where his axian stood, her nose planted quite firmly in a bush. “What is it?” He inquired, eyeing her uncertainly. “Come on! Look look!” She was nosing something within that bush of hers and with a slight roll of his eyes, his gaze dropped to move the leaves from his view. It was a flower that she had found, one with large red and white petals that seemed as if they were curling in on themselves to make a complete circle. The boy gasped softly, “Plumeria Lurline.” He commented softly. He could feel Lorelli’s gaze on him and briefly the boy closed his eyes to add, “Perfection. Spring time. New beginnings.” Alistair had taken a profound interest in flowers ever since Fiducia had told him that they once had meanings. Occasionally, he’d still bring her new ones they’d found for her. The plumeria the pair had never seen before but the Osprey had once told them about it in a half attempt at a bedtime story. Alistair would have remained there to inspect the lovely blossoms if it hadn’t been for the sound of hooves not terribly far from him. He regretfully pulled both himself and his axian from their bush, his ears alert for the origin of the sound.


After a moment of attentive listening, the pair were eventually able to pinpoint the movement as coming from the path not terribly far to their right, the path that often led to where his father and himself dwelt in the evening hours. Despite this knowledge, Alistair was still hesitant to venture onwards, the sound of the hooves were lighter then Tenembrage’s and for a moment he was content to stay hidden between the foliage and trees, watching the approaching figure with a vague sense of familiarity. She smelt like family. He was hesitant to step from his hiding place, however, and only after realizing that the female and her curious looking companion were fallowing his foot prints did the boy step forward, gathering all sense of confidence he could muster and inquiring in a voice that sounded ever so strangely like his father’s. “Who are you and what’s your business in the Vale?” He didn’t recognize her, his half sister, her and his mother vanishing almost as soon as he was able to eat anything substantial. Instead, he stared at her with a sense of suspicion. One intruder he felt capable of handling but no but moments later another had stumbled upon his little confrontation. It was only Lorelli’s silent coaxing that kept the boy and his princely stance, his darkly colored eyes shifting uncertainly between the pair without a single hint of recognition.


One might have been enough, two might have been pushing it but shortly after a third individual entered the scene and unhappily even Lorelli had to admit that he was out numbered. His gaze had shifted towards the approaching champagne child and despite the obvious similarity in age, Alistair made no attempts to befriend him. Quite on the contrary, his imagination had gotten away with him and for a moment he was considering this group before him to be an invading army coming to take over their lands! “Lorelli, there’s no way we can out run all of these and get to dad in time.” He spoke silently to his companion and with a sense of regret she replied with two words he certainly didn’t want to hear. “I know.”

send me your flowers of december
send me your dreams of candied wine
i've got just one thing i can give you
just one more thing of mine