as I wandered the forest, the green leaves among, i heard a wild flower singing a song

at one time in her life she was tightly bound to her family, her herd… her mother was a plain mare, of average beauty and wit…but she was always kind and her father was a force, pale and golden and clever in many ways. they loved her well each in their own way…her mother was reverent to her beauty and sweetness while her father thought her precious as a pearl and highly valuable as she was his likeness in many ways but her size. it was perfect until as she grew older and more beautiful and intelligent her life began to wilt, like a flower cut and left out of water. her peers were jealous of her and the favoritism of her father and her mothers friends hated that they had not produced any offspring as lovely and worthy as she. so she gradually disappeared.

as a yearling she was apt to lose herself in the woods for long periods of time, befriending the trees and wilderness, the grasses and flowers. she would occasionally find herself back home, for a fond but brief visit to her parents. this time, however, she decided she would not be going back. her mother was growing older and didn’t deserve the ill feelings petal’s presence caused in the herd. and her father was well situated. she didn’t feel bad leaving to make her own way instead of being traded off….she loved him, but didn’t respect the way he never seemed to defend her mother against the jealousy of the other mares. so like a dandelion seed she caught the breeze and lifted away, blowing toward the next chapter of her life. she was glad it had brought her to this place.

the stallion is so open and honest. it surprises her, having lived in such a sheltered environment as a child and then being relatively isolated for the latter half of her life. she sheds her worries of not fitting in as he describes his scattered family. maybe she will fare better here than she thought. having had her fun, rolling childishly in the mud, she now stands quietly beside him, enjoying the babbling rush of the river at their hooves. she hopes his family will be as honest and goodnatured as he. the mud dries in clumpy patches, satisfying her need to feel less like a glowing sore thumb. at his question she freezes, her demeanor wilting slightly. her voice is smooth and surprisingly colder than she intended when it reaches her ears.

i am here because i did not belong where i was. i have lived alone half my short life because i do not fit in with others.

she is more brief than she means to be and soon realizes the chill in her words does not suit her. they are too hard and laced with the tiniest fragment of hurt. she has only ever been lucky and loved by her parents… she is shamed momentarily by her poor reaction to what little misfortune she has been dealt. she turns her head, which for once had been looking blindly towards the ground, upward towards shamwari and nudges him playfully in the shoulder.

i brought myself here to find someone to guard me while i sleep of course… generally i prefer birches, or maples, even a pine some days…. but i must say you are much more lively than a tree. and a much better companion of course.

she shakes her orange tinged mane and tail, flinging small chunks of mud at him, and then trots up the bank to the grass giggling as she waits for his pursuit.

p e t a l

mare : 3 : perlino dun : arabian mustang mutt : 13.3 : kafkaesque
s t o c k ~ l u m b e - s t o c k @ d e v i a n t a r t