[Quest] how the years change us

[Maerys]

there are nights when the wolves are silent
and only the horses howl

Illuster Meadow in the spring was astonishingly beautiful.

Dotting the scenery before Maerys was the brightest red flower, a beacon of color and springtime health. The flower was such casual beauty, enough to bring the girl into the vibrancy of the moment, all of her thoughts on blessed pause. And there was the birdsong that followed - the laughter of winged comrades.

And then it all changed; the blissful serenity was shattered.

There are sobs in the air that cut through any tranquility like a carefully sharpened knife, even threatening to slice through Maerys who's heart beats quicker and legs move faster towards the sound. As the source of such wailing comes into view, Maerys can feel herself cracking and caving.

The girl did not deal well with death.

She assumed that when this man passed, the old woman cried with more violence than any gale. Not to have him right there was a torture to her soul. It was doubtful that she broke quietly. No, no - it was like every atom of her being screamed in unison, traumatized that she should exist without her lover.

How long had she sat there, next to a body with no life in a field that pushed to be celebrating when she was not?

When the wracking sobs passed she cried in such a desolate way that no-one could bear to listen for long. She had gone from felicitous to hanging by a thread, a transformation no-one knew how to reverse and when her watery eyes landed on Maerys, she pleaded softly and with few words for help.

"Mourn not the passing of a life well-lived, yet celebrate -" the dun mare began softly as something ethereal and unnatural and all too magical swelled within her heart.  "Count the times your souls smiled together, reached out so invisibly yet tangibly and touched." And this magic that grew like a babe in her belly tells her to reach for the mare, touch, touch it whispers. "Death is only the end of a chapter, my friend." The girl stepped towards the mare, reaching her whiskered snout out. "And so as this body makes ready to return to the soil, his spirit will watch over you and live in your heart." The mare blinks away another tear as she reaches for Maerys back, thinking it will only be a simple physical connection for comfort. "It will bring sadness as you transform into this new way of connecting, yet this is part of living." Yet the simple touch becomes so much more.

The magic that now lives within Maerys snakes its way to the old woman's heart and claims her despondency for its own, leaving in its wake only the love that was felt for this man and the beautiful moments they shared together.

The magic, powerful and concentrated, retreated back within Maerys and instilled her with the mare's troubles. The old woman's emotion was too much for the girl to handle. The anguish, the sorrow, the feeling of hopelessness - make it stop, make it stop. The horrible sadness wasn't the girl's to deal with. And she didn't know how to.

She slipped away from the scene quickly then as the old woman looked upon her partner with a closure she may never have reached if it wasn't for Maerys.

But the child was more melancholy than she had been in a very, very long time.

And the tears. Oh, the tears.

They slipped from her eyes and didn't stop for a long, long time.


600 wordsMaerys stumbles across the old woman grieving her dead partner and initially doesn't know what to do as she is troubled by her own fear of death. When the woman asks for help, Maerys' new magic is discovered and it pressures her to take the old woman's pain for her own (which she does). In the end, the woman is able to get closure and reminisce on the good times with the old man and Maerys slinks away, feeling devastatingly sad. 

thank you Layla for this beautiful quest <3

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force and magic always permitted