safe from the rising tide Posted on September 18, 2022 at 12:06:52 PM by charybdis
safe from the world outside
"I know dis," Charybdis says in response to the mare’s submission, a smile curling across her lips that’s meant to be soft, but there is a sharpness to it too, that makes it clear as water that if Charybdis had taken her presence here as any kind of threat to her own, things would’ve unfolded much differently between them in these few moments they’ve shared.
Slowly, gently, Charybdis ushers her further from the edge, and listens, keenly and kindly, to the mare’s story, as it falls from her lips, drop by drop. The white mare dips her head in sympathy, upon hearing how the younger mare had been left behind, all alone. Part of the half-sighted augur truly empathises with the black pintaloosa, but the driving force behind her gentleness is rather more selfish.
"Name ‘im to me. Your Da," Charybdis says at length, seeking to learn more. Even if the girl’s sire has long since moved on, it seems wise to at least learn of his name, in case in the future he seeks to return. And, far more pressing, another name that wasn’t mentioned. "Drogon is not in de place called Paradise?" If he wasn’t there… Then were on the Islands was he? As if saying his name aloud has the potential to invoke something that Charybdis isn’t ready to face, in a softer voice, little more than a whisper, so the wind won’t be able to carry it across the water to wherever the brown stallion has gone to; "Did a boy come into your ‘Ome, coloured red like blood and white like snow?"
Careful not to overwhelm the young and tremulous, tender little mare, Charybdis eases off with the questions (for now), and at the plaintive question she asks - why? - Charybdis presses an affectionate touch to the mare’s cheek, again, part of her genuine, part of her guileful. "Sometimes dere is no reason. Life just 'appens, and we 'ave to take what comes our way, wheder we like it or not." In an attempt to draw the mare out and lighten the load she carries, Charybdis turns her muzzle toward the jungle’s edge, and beckons. “Come, I will take you to a safe place, where you can drink, and rest.” A far more softer smile than the first curls across her pale lips as her eye drifts back to the black and white mare. “I am called Charybdis. What is your name, child?”