until every last star in the galaxy dies
Sirius did not have much experience with society. He couldn’t even give you the definition of the word, had you asked for it.
He had been taken as a foal after all, and trained rather than raised. His life before now had been barren of many basic education or socialization, save for the bigger horses that would chase him across the field during the few hours they were allowed at pasture. Besides his training, life for the small pegasus had been a quiet, secluded one. And from the moment he had learned there was more to life than shackles and hunting, he had wanted more.
Is this what home looks like? he had thought to himself, when he had first set hoof in the Denoctian capitol. It was certainly more, that he couldn’t deny. He wove through the city streets, shying at every crackle of a bonfire and shout of a merchant, like a high spirited colt (which, truth be told, he was in a sense.)
Everywhere he looked, people were moving. Everywhere he went, people were calling out to him. A gypsy mare braided his forelock for him with a strand of silver ribbon that looked exactly like the starlight in his visions, and the starlight in his eyes; a baker offered him a pastry he couldn’t pronounce or remember the name of for free, just to try, and he savored every last crumb of sugar, for he had not had sugar before. There were so many things to do and see, names were passed around like candy and Sirius felt as though he were caught in a whirlwind of activity that picked him up and swept him away on its wing. It simultaneously overwhelmed him and delighted him, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to focus on one thing or take in everything together, all at once.
He knew this wasn’t the end of the world, but he supposed he could walk these streets for a decade and still find a new face, a new shop, a new wonder.
So he wandered, enraptured by all the sights, the smells, the sounds that he has never heard before. He wanders until he reaches the end of the city, and there he stares out across the docks where the sailors walk and the ships bob peacefully tethered, out across the sea where the waves roll and kiss the sky. He looks out at the horizon, and even when the sun sits directly above him and sunlight reigns supreme, he thinks he can see the night stars winking down at him.
He stands there for a moment, taking it all in. And when he’s about to take his first step down the moor, to see those strange wooden ships up close, a figure steps into his path.
“Hello!” he calls out, and steps forward to meet the other stallion. He’s dressed in tones of white and black, but his eyes are a blue brighter than the sky (making Sirius think he, too, has been blessed in some way by the heavens, or perhaps that he was born of a tropical sea), and he wears braids similar to his own. A smile, boyish and innocent and utterly clueless, frames his lips as he looks between the stranger and the docks from which he came. And before he can stop himself, questions are bubbling like water from between his lips.
“Are you a water-traveler?” he asks, nodding towards the ships but not knowing what they’re called.
He had been taken as a foal after all, and trained rather than raised. His life before now had been barren of many basic education or socialization, save for the bigger horses that would chase him across the field during the few hours they were allowed at pasture. Besides his training, life for the small pegasus had been a quiet, secluded one. And from the moment he had learned there was more to life than shackles and hunting, he had wanted more.
Is this what home looks like? he had thought to himself, when he had first set hoof in the Denoctian capitol. It was certainly more, that he couldn’t deny. He wove through the city streets, shying at every crackle of a bonfire and shout of a merchant, like a high spirited colt (which, truth be told, he was in a sense.)
Everywhere he looked, people were moving. Everywhere he went, people were calling out to him. A gypsy mare braided his forelock for him with a strand of silver ribbon that looked exactly like the starlight in his visions, and the starlight in his eyes; a baker offered him a pastry he couldn’t pronounce or remember the name of for free, just to try, and he savored every last crumb of sugar, for he had not had sugar before. There were so many things to do and see, names were passed around like candy and Sirius felt as though he were caught in a whirlwind of activity that picked him up and swept him away on its wing. It simultaneously overwhelmed him and delighted him, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to focus on one thing or take in everything together, all at once.
He knew this wasn’t the end of the world, but he supposed he could walk these streets for a decade and still find a new face, a new shop, a new wonder.
So he wandered, enraptured by all the sights, the smells, the sounds that he has never heard before. He wanders until he reaches the end of the city, and there he stares out across the docks where the sailors walk and the ships bob peacefully tethered, out across the sea where the waves roll and kiss the sky. He looks out at the horizon, and even when the sun sits directly above him and sunlight reigns supreme, he thinks he can see the night stars winking down at him.
He stands there for a moment, taking it all in. And when he’s about to take his first step down the moor, to see those strange wooden ships up close, a figure steps into his path.
“Hello!” he calls out, and steps forward to meet the other stallion. He’s dressed in tones of white and black, but his eyes are a blue brighter than the sky (making Sirius think he, too, has been blessed in some way by the heavens, or perhaps that he was born of a tropical sea), and he wears braids similar to his own. A smile, boyish and innocent and utterly clueless, frames his lips as he looks between the stranger and the docks from which he came. And before he can stop himself, questions are bubbling like water from between his lips.
“Are you a water-traveler?” he asks, nodding towards the ships but not knowing what they’re called.
notes: ahhh finally <3 water-traveler = sailor aha
