She stumbles blindly from the ocean's frothing surf, her heart clenching with every single word Shamwari had said. She stumbles onto her knees, her heart thunders against her ribs and her breath comes in short gasps. She was suffocating beneath the weight of Shamwari's words, they clench around her windpipe and squeeze until her breath is just a wheeze. "Mother," she whispers into the breeze as it caresses and coddles her, offering an embrace to sooth her aching heart.
The sea washes around her bent knees, bubbling and hissing as it foams around her. A sigh escapes her parted lips as she pushes herself from the sand. She shakes out her unkempt mane, sand grains stubbornly cling to the tangles. She turns her eyes up the beach, one bright crystal blue, the other a soft hazel brown.
She treads up the beach in any direction that will take her far from Paradise, far from the Prairie. She wanders. Letting her legs take her wherever they wanted, from the Meadows sprawling grasses to the base of the Peaks jutting monolith.
Caly finds herself near to the roaring Falls, the very earth beneath her hooves shakes with the force of the water as it plummets into the clear pool. Wearily she draws herself to the water's edge, and stares down at the girl who ripples at her hooves. Who is she? Is she a woman of Paradise? Or just another plaything for Rougaru? If she disobeyed him, would he do what he had done to Sanibel to her?
A sob catches in her throat. Hold it together, Caly. She swallows hard. She lifts her delicate crown to stare at a stranger just a few feet from her. She swallows hard as she looks upon the painted man, his eyes are clenched tightly shut as he drinks from the crystal waters. She dares to step closer, her bicolored eyes notice the weary lines on his face, the droopy way his ears are set. "Are you okay?" she asks, just above a whisper.
Calypso THE STARRy EYED DREAMER OF PARADISE
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