[AW] Break through the surface and breathe

[Averin]

averin ILLUSION NEVER CHANGED INTO SOMETHING REAL The memories of Rift were confusing ones to him, save for that very major turning point in his life. Being sold to someone else, and rather unexpectedly at that. He had been with the caravan for so long, had seen the passing faces of so many and Averin had thought himself exempt from being sold off. They had never made a big deal of it being an option before, because they had treated him like an asset for so long. Averin had taken care of the young ones, the new ones that they collected to be bartered off after they were conditioned for it. Averin had felt secure in his place, even as the numbers dwindled and resources became more scarce. He shouldn't have, but that was his folly and he had learned from it. Averin had been curious about the stranger they had met, though he had just caught the stranger's eyes, friendly warmth in his gaze and that was all it seemed to take and the stranger had pointed in Averin's direction. At first it went as any other time had -- the enforcer disdainful that someone should have enough to buy Averin away -- and Averin wasn't concerned, just curious about the stranger and why he had been picked out of the crowd. He wasn't really all that young anymore, though probably pretty impressionable all the same. He did not look like the sort to do a lot a manual labor, nor did he look anything like a warrior or bodyguard. He had some value in picking up remedies for aches and sicknesses, and he could watch over youngsters, but when he really thought about it, he did not believe he was worth all that much. Of course there had been various reasons over the two years that Averin had been with the caravan that were brought to his attention as to why someone might want him; some were so very unappealing and some had him blushing hard enough to turn him almost pink. So what was this stranger's reasoning, exactly? He did not always get to know, but it never mattered. None of it had lasted before, and so Averin simply thought of waiting it out. Except it had not ended there. Averin had noticed that there was some turning point in how the enforcers began truly considering it. Not trusting what was being said, what the payment would be, but still really considering the sell if it were true. Willing to go and see, check all of it out before deciding for sure. None of it felt like it lasted all that long, because Only had followed through on the riches offered to the caravan for him, and that was it. He was no longer of the caravan, but belonging to someone named Only. Which seemed like a highly unusual name to Averin. Made him wonder a number of things about the new master. The main thing that he wondered was if the name was chosen or given, as that could say a lot all on it's own. But Averin hadn't gotten the chance to ask about it. Any of it. But there he had been, newly purchased from the caravan and uncertain as to what that meant for him. For anything about his life, honestly. He was pulled away from all that he had known for a second time in his life, and left to try and figure things out as he went. The shock was more in the fact that he had seemed to wander off and away -- by mistake, surely! -- and then he couldn't find Only again. The words of meeting by the river pushed Averin to seek rivers out and wander along them, because he had not seen Only since that fateful day when all had changed for him. Had it been days or weeks that he had been walking along riverbanks in search for the master he had only seen that one day? Averin was concerned in the fact that he might have forgotten what Only even looked like. Okay, that might be a stretch, but Averin was feeling nervous about being all alone out here and without any purpose. It felt sort of terrifying. He did not even know where he was at this point, because it did not appear to be a place he had seen before. He had not back tracked, and it did not look like the rest of that place that he had been sold off in, either. Now a new place to travel was not an issue for Averin, because that was mostly what the caravan had done through those years; traveled to different and new places. Averin had seen a lot in that time, but where he was now was not one of those places he had seen before. Being in a new place on it's own wasn't bothersome, but being here by himself was. Averin wasn't good at dealing with something like this all on his own and without direction. Making his own choices was not his strong point, because he had never the kind of freedom that gave him that sort of experience before. He had always been told what to do, and how, and where to go. Being stranded out here like this? Not something that Averin had been prepared for. The river was his only anchor right now, and so he was loathe to move away from it for too long. Averin picked his way carefully along the bank, ears pricked towards the sound of the rushing water and finding that his mind was wandering along the clouds as his hooves wandered along the riverside. He wasn't paying enough attention when someone else came along, which led him to flinch-pausing there with wide, half rolling eyes when the words were heard; Averin's gaze starting at the sight of someone's legs in the water in front of him. His wings fluffed from the surprise of having been snuck up upon -- not really, he knew he simply hadn't been paying enough attention -- Averin's gaze trailed up until they met the eyes of the other horse; Only. Averin blinked rapidly, wondering if he was seeing things. But no, the other male was really there, and had asked him if he was waiting for someone. That was a strange question for Only to ask him. Mostly because it was Only that Averin had been told to wait for by a river. So it had been this river, then? Relief washed through Averin and he visibly relaxed; feathers smoothing over as he shot a grateful smile at the stallion. "I thought you'd never find me." He replied softly, reaching his nose out toward Only, and tilting his head in wonder. There was so much he wanted to say, all the fears that had festered within his mind like some foul haze about being lost and alone, not knowing what to do; but that shy part of him kept himself from saying any of it just now, because he had realized how very much that he did not know about Only. The fact that maybe this wasn't going to go well -- but wasn't anything better than this loneliness and lack of purpose? -- and Averin could only stand there and wait, wondering if maybe he had done something wrong, if he hadn't looked hard enough; if somehow all of this had been his fault. I'M WIDE AWAKE AND I CAN SEE THE PERFECT SKY IS TORN

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