Love is for fools. She flicks her ears to him and raises her head slightly. She lets out a laugh, her barrel expanding and contracting with the sound as it leaves her lips. She shakes her head at him, her eyes alight with the humor of his words. “Love is for fools?” She questions. It wasn’t meant for him to respond to. “Love is weakness,” she begins. “Love is strength. It is what gives us life. It is not one, nor the other, it is both. Sometimes it makes us act like fools. But it is not a foolish emotion.” He speaks of her. She can feel his anguish. The loss. She gently noses his head up. She makes him look at her as she speaks. “Pain is an inevitable emotion that we will all feel at some point in our lives. Life is hard. It is beautiful. And though we receive but one life, it is ours.” As if she were a cat, she traces her muzzle down his neck, light as a feather. “A wise king must make decisions for the good of all, and sometimes those decisions hurt them, and others. But a wise king doesn’t shy from his duties, he owns them. He carries that burden. He doesn’t seek pity. For he is strength.” Her eyes drift back to the Falls.“When you gaze into these waters, what do you see?” She peers at her own reflection, emerald eyes staring back at her. She feels heavy as she breathes deeply in, exhaling the weight she felt. She looks back at him. “I see a wise king.” |