[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... ilence.gif[/imgleft]The newly-hatched sun shone bright above the thickening canopy, its gentle rays drifting down through the budding branches and fresh new leaves until settling on the grassy clearing below. The Hallow was quiet, for a moment. The gentle sound of sleep-breathing came from the fuzzy bundle by her side. Her frogs croaked quietly by the water a few fox-lengths away. The gentle humming of moth wings and the quiet huffing of her small rabbit friend were soft in her ears and warm in her heart.

Winter had been strange, she reflected. It had begun cold and lonely until she had left the Hallow in which she had grown, desperate for a connection to someone. Anyone. She had found the Winter Market and hesitated. She had never been a very social kin. But her loneliness had won out, and thank the Motherfather it had. She walked away from that week with a new moth friend, a sweet bunny who loved snuggles, a mouse she could never find, and a half-eaten bunch of eggs that would one day be her small amphibious pals. She was happy, for the first time in a long while, she wasn't alone.

Then, something amazing had happened. In a rivlet of icy water, Set had stumbled upon and egg. Brook's egg. The pink doe opened her eyes slowly and blinked down at the tiny sleeping foal pressed against her side. Her heart fluttered with happiness and stung with worry. She had no idea how to be a mother, let alone a mother to an Acha. She thought of her sister, Mist Rest, and her odd, mischievous ways. But Little Brook was so tiny. Such a fragile thing, she had been so cold when she hatched... A small cough shook the child's body and Set felt her veins turn to ice. She had been sickly ever since, and Set worried that the child would not survive the moon. She blinked back tears and nuzzled the child closer.

If only her mother were here, Rain would know what to do...

@Lirilei

Sun Sparkle hadn't been home in quite a long time, longer than she could recall really. She'd left home as soon as she'd been old enough to take care of herself, and had more or less lost track of time. She'd been enjoying exploring the swamp, and learning all there was to learn about the inhabitants there.

But she missed her family, and kept telling herself she'd go home 'one of these days' and finally, her wandering had brought her close to home again. Close enough at least that she decided that now was the time and she'd take the time to detour and go home and visit whoever was there for a day or two or three. Or however long really.

Coming home so long without something to bring wasn't a good idea she figured so she'd stopped and gathered a few things that both looked and smelled pretty but were also useful as far as food went, or even medicinal purposes. Though most of it was more edible than medicinal.

Much like Set she'd been on her own a long time till she'd befriended a moth that she...well simply called Moth. Naming animals wasn't her strong suit, but that was okay really.  She could see home in the distance and she picked up the path, Moth floating along behind lazily. She couldn't wait to see who was there!


@Blinded By Silence

[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... ilence.gif[/imgleft] The pale pink doe lay there, stroking the soft fur of the still sleeping little one when suddenly she noticed a change in the tones of her animal friends. Gently, she slid her way out from under Brook's diminutive weight and moved toward the doorway, ducking under the curtain of lichen that separated their visitor from the child.

She blinked the sun from her eyes and gasped at what she saw.

"Sun Sparkle! Sister! Hello!" She called excitedly, shaking the grass from her fur.

With childlike glee, she bounded over to the doe she hadn't seen in years, nuzzling her affectionately. Stepping back, she beamed, Brook forgotten, as she looked to see how her sister had grown.

"How have you been, sister? I was worrying that you may have forgotten about us," she chuckled.

@Lirilei

Sun Sparkle let her little bundle of flowers and herbs drop down as her sister cam bounding up and she nuzzled back affectionately, a sheepish laugh from her.

"I've been good, just traveling and learning the swamp, and I guess I sort of lost track of everything else." it was the simplest answer and a truthful one. She'd just wandered far and hadn't made it back around this way.

"But finally I was close to home, or well close enough to make the trip to come home!" she bent to pick up the items she'd let fall, and shook her head, talking between her teeth. "Never could forget about you, or everyone else. This is home after all!"

"How have you been? What news is there of everyone?" She'd been away so long, news would be good to have!

@Blinded By Silence

[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... ilence.gif[/imgleft]Where the Sun Sleeps watched her sister explain her travels with a wistful look in her pale blue eyes. How she wished she could follow in her family's hoofprints, each of them a wanderer in their own right. She wondered what it was like, the distant shore from her naming dream. But no, she was needed here, as evident by this unsuspecting visit. After all, if Sun Sparkle found her way home, surely the others would visit too. And the Hallow could not be a mess when that happens, no, not under her watch.

"Well, I am glad you've made it back, safe and sound. I've kept the food stores full and the clearing tidy, you're free to stay as long as you'd like, of course!" She smiled and gave a happy sigh, "I've missed you, sister."

Set felt her ears droop a bit at the mention of everyone else, "Ah, well..." She paused, "They've all gone off. Traveling and wandering, you know how they are. I'm sure mom and dad are still traveling together, but the rest... I haven't heard from them in a long while, honestly. And me, well," Her eyes widened a moment, remembering, "I have a daughter! Not truly mine, I didn't birth her, I guess. Here, come see!"

The pink doe lead her sister over to the hallow tree where they had all once slept, long ago when they were foals. As she passed through the curtain of lichen, the familiar scent of her mother still hung in the air, stale and fading, but comforting none the less. Along the walls were hoof carved ledges on which many things were stored. Childhood trinkets, reminders of her family, herbs, nuts and berries. The floor was mostly taken up by a large nest of soft grasses, lined with tufts of fur, found feathers and springy mosses. And nestled inside it, looking even tinier than normal due to the size of the nest around her, was a tiny sleeping foal.

"Her name is Little Brook. I found her egg in the river this winter past." Her eyes warmed as she whispered quietly.

@Lirilei

Sun Sparkle saw the wistful look on her older sisters face, and was curious. She was about to ask what the look had been for when Set started to talk again distracting her from the question she had.

"I've missed you too. I plan to stay awhile. I was gone a long time I know. Far longer than I ever meant to be." there was a sheepish note from her as she spoke, her moth fluttering and lazily landing on her back unconcerned about the strange doe. Sparkle's moth was used to her talking to other kin by now.

"It's just who we are as a family." there was a knowing nod of her head. Travel seemed to be part of their very blood. The mention of a daughter caught her attention though. "A daughter! That's wonderful!" and she truly meant it. Though she shook her head. "Birthing her or not, if you're raising her, she's your daughter."

Sparkle stepped into her childhood home and memories flooded her along with the scents left behind and she breathed out softly, feeling a contentness she hadn't felt in a long time filling her as she moved toward the nest, a pleased sound coming from her. "She's perfect." it was simple as that, really.

"In the river! Its a wonder she survived!"

The herbs and flowers she carried were carefully set aside for later, her moth back to fluttering around a little, exploring in it's own moth-y way.



@Blinded By Silence

[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... ilence.gif[/imgleft]Berry had fluttered his way down from the branches of the home tree, his furry feelers twitching curiously at the two visitors. Set paid him no mind, however, her eyes distant and worried as she looked down at the sleeping form of Little Brook. Her daughter.

Sun Sparkle was right. Maybe not by birth, but by choosing to care for this little one, Where the Sun Sleeps was by definition Little Brook's mother. Doubt weighed down her heart and she let out a heavy sigh.

"A mother would know how to care for her. She's been so sickly since she hatched... I'm so worried. I have no idea how to help her."

Her soft blue eyes teared up as she watched her daughter sleep. She really was perfect. So gentle and polite. She'd talk your ears off, if she had the strength.

"I'd trade perfect for healthy, easy." She said softly.

@Lirilei

"Well, for one you pulled her egg from the river, that's a big start there on helping, right? I mean she probably wouldn't have made it in her egg if you'd left her there. So that was a huge start!" she was talking quickly, brightly, trying to lift her sisters spirits.

"I have some flowers and plants I brought with me, I've been gone so long I didn't want to come back without anything and well, most of them are able to be eaten, or put into warmed up water. I don't know if they'll help, but they certainly shouldn't hurt either. Greens to help give her strength, berries for sweetness but extra goodness in them that seems to give energy...." she didn't know all the properties just what she'd observed from her own uses.

"It'll be okay, I'm sure mom has felt the same way, especially in the beginning! I don't think any of us are born knowing exactly what to do, we just sort of learn as we grow. This is going to be no different...and then you'll know for the next one, and the next and so on."

@Blinded By Silence


(805 words)

[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... ilence.gif[/imgleft]The soft pink doe stared at her sweet sister with tears in her eyes. Sun Sparkle's travels must have done her some good, or maybe it was just her being her mother's daughter, or maybe she just had it hidden within her all this while. No matter the cause of it, Where the Sun Sleeps was beyond grateful for the sudden wisdom from her sister.

She was right. If Set had not pulled Little Brook's egg from the river, she would have died before she even hatched.

"Flowers and plants, huh..." She smiled warmly at her sister, blinking the tears of fear away. "Thank you, Sun Sparkle. You're the best, I can't thank you enough." Set gave her sister a well deserved nuzzle of affection and then stepped back.

"Now, could you tell me more about those plants?"

@Lirilei ((I think we can wrap it here, thanks for playing!))