I have never been afraid of the ocean, despite all the reasons I know I ought to be. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows me that I was one of the first horses to step onto and across the water.
I was one of the first to step into the water and one of the last to step onto the island. The problem is, I kept looking down as I crossed the ocean. All those mournful eyes, delicate ears, leaping legs tangled up in kelp... All those unicorns, they reminded me of my mother. They reminded me of my sister. All those lips parted and unreadable-- they could have been calling to me, in greeting or warning, or maybe that was just the look people had before they turned to stone. One last, long, exhale. Easy. And then, forever, nothing.
Too often I stopped and pressed the tip of my nose to the surface of the sea, my mane cascading around my face and into the water. I stared down at those dark-eyed faces, blinkless, waiting for them to stir. "What is it? What are you trying to say?" But they didn’t move, or if they did it was always the split second when my eyes were closed. We stood within reach, but we were worlds away.
I should have been used to that feeling, but it still drove me mad.
So that is how I got sidetracked; it was late in the day when I stepped foot on dry land once more. The tall, lush grass seemed to wave as though it was happy to see me again, and I must admit returning to the island felt a little like coming home. After all, I grew up here in ways I never did in Denocte. I turned to the closest statue- I could see others scattered in the green hills before me, their stillness emphasized by the movement of the grass- and something strange happened. Although, I knew to expect strange things on the island, and I did not stir except to smile softly to myself.
When I pressed my cheek to its shoulder, the statue began to weep. And then it started to sing.
AMONG THE MONSTERS, I AM WELL HIDDEN; WHO LOOKS FOR A LEAF IN THE FOREST?
art
@Elliana I hope this works, let me know if you'd like me to change anything<3
here were so many ways Elli was different from her mother, the way her mind spun outward, soaking in the galaxies and floating amongst them, her dreams and thoughts melding with the worlds beyond their own. It is why she is on the island and her mother is not.
Elli’s head is more or less in the clouds, those blue eyes transfixed on day dreams. She finds herself counting her steps as she walks on the island. It is much easier to stare down at her feet than to look into the faces of the statues that have ghosts flittering behind them, begging to be set free. She has counted her steps before. How many it took to get from her cottage door to the cliff side. How many it took to go from the sweets cart and into her favorite tea shop in Night Court. She doesn't remember how many steps she ran after that white raven until she lost sight of him.
She is not the only one that was one of the first. For Elliana sits on that island waiting. Ask her what she is waiting for and she would say nothing, but the look in those blue eyes tell you it is for something after all, she just wont tell you what.
The sound of the song is what draws her over to the girl and her statue. (She ignores the one she passes that looks like a ghost that visited her late in the evening last night, but she gets a chill anyway that flitters down her spine like ripples in a puddle.) But another finds her, blocks her path and the statue smiles at her and Elli asks it: “Fawn?” She stares as the statue smiles shyly. “I thought you drowned?” She asks it, because she knows the story of her great-great-grandmother. And is if it only needed that word, as if it were waiting for Elli to say such a thing, water spills out her mouth and the statue is still once more. She brushes her shoulder against the thing, still as stone, as she passes, a silent ‘I love you’ there is her touch.
“You learned their magic,” she says in awe as she approaches the girl, the unicorn. A smile flourishes from beneath blue eyes. Elliana comes beside the statue and rests her head on the other shoulder. “I have yet to hear one sing though,” she admits with concentrated eyes as the song of the statue dies. “What should we sing next?” She asks as if she has known the girl for centuries, and maybe, on this island, through the eternal eyes of its statues—they have. “You start, and I will follow.” Because little ghost girls were never meant to orchestrate things, they were always meant to be the ones to find the harmony, amongst both the living and the dead.
Little Elliana made me wary, at least at first. It was probably just because we were on the island, and I was rightfully on edge. I had almost died here twice, to my knowledge, and it would not surprise me to learn there had been instances where I was just steps away from death and completely oblivious to it. The island could be cunning, and crafty, and most certainly nefarious. I knew I could not trust it, and as an extension I could not trust anyone I met here.
But it was really hard to remain suspicious of a little girl.
“You learned their magic,” she said, and I smiled to myself at the awe in her voice. “I think I was born with it,” I said plainly, with a shrug. I had just been lucky. Gifted, I guess, but not like my parents or my sister. My magic would never help me in battle, it would never break chains- or, rather, turn them to stalks of gently braided wheat. I knew I shouldn’t want more than what I had, but that’s unfortunately who I was. I wanted.
“Oh, I don’t sing for strangers.” Actually I wouldn’t sing for anyone except my sister. (Avesta was the only exception for many little patterns of mine, not just that one.) Sometimes I could be caught humming, if I was at work on a task that required deep focus- it steadied that particular part of my mind which was prone to wander if left to its own devices. But as a general rule, I did not sing.
“She sings better than me, anyway,” I had the strange feeling the statue was blushing. This was of course nonsense, as she was made of white stone. Most feelings are nonsense anyway- it’s what makes them feelings. My magic brushed against the mare’s neck. “Did you recognize her song? I’ve never heard anything like it before.” I peered at the filly from behind my long lashes, strangely grateful for the chunk of stone between us. I suppose she reminded me a little of myself, running around on her own and asking strange questions to people she had never met. “I’m Aspara,” I said eventually. “Is this your first time here?”
AMONG THE MONSTERS, I AM WELL HIDDEN; WHO LOOKS FOR A LEAF IN THE FOREST?
