Use caution when the Wolf comes aknockin; Posted on May 7, 2020 at 10:02:16 AM by Rougaru
Rougaru had taken advantage of Zjeena's commandment when first she returned to him from the Bay. Day and night was spent lost in deep thought of how he might best the pale gray stallion of Tinuvel. He had failed at first, succumb to wounds still tender from the war on Luthien. He had fallen to Liland then, but it did not defeat him. The wolf saw a haze of red intent only on making the monster fall.
And fall he did.
Rougaru's defeat over Liland was a victory that had been a long time coming. Seasons after seasons Rougaru spent biding his time and waiting patiently for the stallion to take the opportunities presented to him. The beast had not been content with this choice; for the taste of war was not enough to sate it's hunger for blood. The broken Zjeena had been sight enough to call the two warring minds together. Zjeena bound their soul an in her tear stained eyes of anger and rage he found the huntress that so long she buried deep. She freed herself when she released him to take his vengeance.
Liland fell, and Rougaru made certain he fell hard. He took his herd to Paradise, left the damned stallion standing alone and broken on the Bay in their wake. He took them to hear Zjeena's story, to clear the air of the filth and putrid odor that Liland used to color his words in such a manner that he made himself out the champion and Rougaru the fiend. Had that been it, Rougaru would have left him keep his stories. Neither himself nor the wolf minded being made into the bad guy. It was an opinion after all. Could not the story of red riding hood be told from the eyes of the wolf too? It was possible. At least he thought so. He would have let Liland moan and groan until his voice was hoarse... If he had not brought Zjeena down. That was the last straw. She, the most kind and innocent in their masculine feud... She who had tried so desperately to keep the peace. He could not sit idle. Once and for all, Liland was exposed and finally the Paradise herd was at peace.
But Rougaru was not. A war waged within his breast as he tried to busy himself with familiarizing the Bay herd into the humid jungle home of Paradise. He told himself that the foal that swelled his queen's belly was her own. Tried his best to remind himself of the joy he found in her twins havelle and Nattergal that were not his blood. Still now he saw them as not Liland's children but Zjeena's. How would he see this one? Could he see it as Zjeena's child and not Liland's spawn?
It was a war he raged within but dare not voice aloud. Zjeena's story to the Bay herd had done nothing but harden his hatred for Liland. He found himself pleased and even slightly amused (though he blamed the wolf on this) that the stallion took his leave of the islands shortly after not even bothering to wait for the birth of his foals. Liland was a contradiction but at least he would be that contradiction in nothing but memory only.
However as the time drew to a close, Rougaru knew he must face the inner demons that battled within him. Zjeena was among the first to disperse from the herd in search of privacy for delivery. However unlike the others, she did not leave alone. The relationship between himself and his two queens was a unique one. They shared a love for one another that rivaled the adoration he felt for them both. When the sharp curve of monster's own hooffall trails closely at Zjeena's own, Rougaru can assume nothing else except her time was near. A prideful smile curves across his whiskered lips as for a few moments he remains where he stands, the white capped surf tugging affectionately at the cream and caramel strands of his knotted tail begging him to join them in the waters. The connection between Monster and Zjeena was a close one bound by blood and kinship. It was what made them work in unison so easily together. His queens of fire and ice. Their herd would be incomplete without them both. He dare not ever think of a time when he might be without them.
Fervently he shakes his thick skull and slowly makes his way through the dense jungle no stranger to the wish of solitude among mares when giving birth. As her birth with Akela, Zjeena sought out a dense set in the jungle, bedded by soft lush grasses to make the foal's arrival into the world a peaceful and serene welcome. Life itself would paint them a hard picture soon enough but Rougaru was only hopeful that for a while still he could ensure the safety and security of all.
A soft whuff blows from his nostrils as he ducks his head beneath a low hanging palm to reveal the scene of mother and... Foals? Twins. No wonder Zjeena had been so swollen and miserable in the last few months. "twins?! he exclaims with emerald eyes shinning brightly. Monster's eyes shine in the dark, lit by a fire he was not familiar with and as he approaches she makes a hasty exit. For a moment his gaze follows her wake, watching as the leaves shudder against her passing. She too was near her time but he had all but expected her to linger for a time still. At least a biting remark or two to him or an affectionate word longer for Zjeena. Perhaps she did not want him to see her here? Confusion colored his gaze but the shuffling of small hooves draws his attention again and once more the softness returns to his eyes. He should hate them, should despise their existence as another symbol of Liland's interferance into the ongoing of Paradise but he cannot. As with Nattergal and Havelle he does not see the gray stallion but instead the beautiful tawny colored Zjeena shining in their eyes as they gazed adoringly up at the mare who had carried them so long.
One cautious step after another brings him closer to his queen of ice. Tentatively he stretches his thick muscular neck towards her, ashen dusted nostrils inhaling her sweet perfume colored in milk and sweat. " They are beautiful my love... Strong... Just like their mother." the words are soft and choked as they come from his lips. Words he had not entirely been sure would come past his own lips and yet he meant them more than ever. Replies: There have been no replies.