| Subject: Re: A Time For Change |
Author:
Jeffrey, et. al
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Date Posted: 20:20:45 01/19/04 Mon
In reply to:
Alexis/Monet/NobelNomis/Kira
's message, "A Time For Change" on 10:31:45 01/19/04 Mon
A shiver ran up Jeffrey's spine. Alexis' efforts to calm him were, in fact, having just the opposite effect - he found that close proximity to her made him very unsettled. But for a moment more he lingered, gazing into her large and limpid eyes and bathing in the moon-bright glow of her hair and skin. Her touch was tender and warm, and she was close...so close...he could almost....
Alarmed to find himself leaning ever-so-slightly closer to the girl, Jeff pulled away, hoisting Gwennie against his chest as though to shield him from Alexis. Startled into further clarity by this jolt, Gwenneth raised weary gold-green eyes to the girl and did not reply to Alexis' words.
Casting about for something to say, Jeff lifted his gaze to the snowy mountain peaks, blushing rose now in the first light of the sun, high above. "Alexis," he said quietly (and even to speak her name gave him chills), "why are we going? I mean, I know all that stuff about unicorns and escape, but...why? Do we even really know?"
(i think you know)
As abruptly as he had begun to speak, Jeff trailed off into silence, staring raptly at the mountaintops. And in his heart - a heart which, despite being raised in timidity and complacency, was nonetheless the heart of a warrior, though it was far beyond the boy to realize this - stirred the whispering siren-song of adventure, sending a warm thrill throughout his body. Jeffrey Gage Ryan, standing on the Western slopes of the Hedrons, smiled. "Never mind," he said, and his voice was almost breathless. "I think I know. I do want to go...must be going crazy, huh?"
Gwenneth followed her Boy's gaze, and sighed. ::My dear one, I know why we go,:: she told him, though he of course could not hear. ::We go to save your life and mine, and in so doing the world will be torn apart. Ah, Creator, what have we done?:: Her little head fell limp against Jeff's arm once more.
- - -
Angie rolled her dark eyes in a manner of deepest exasperation, watching but choosing not to pry and listen to the conversation between the elf and the tiger-lir. She was growing ever more exasperated by Monet's (and Alexis') talk of friendship - to her, the concept was trite, deceptive, and above all, useless. Hers was a very self-centered and -motivated mindset, born of necessity from her arduous life, but in this present situation it left her at a vast disadvantage, though she had no idea.
Turning away from her 'companions', Angie closed her eyes and allowed her mind to fly far away from this pre-dawn mountainside, traveling up to the sparkling peaks where the air was dangerously thin and breathtakingly cold; down, down, down again over rocks and rivers until she won the Blue Valleys. And she could almost feel the warm, pliable dirt beneath her feet, the tall grasses (of a bluish tint that gave the rolling hills their name) swishing against her legs, the sun on her shoulders. She loved the Valleys, dotted here and there with boulders and short trees with twisted boles that she found tremendously charming. Here, in the shadow of the mountains, ran the Many-Colors (as the little winged horses call themselves), and occasionally a band of Silent Paw, though they generally preferred the more forested regions to the north. And when Angie at last led this small band into the land of blue grasses, she would slip away by night and bound unfettered over the hills beneath the wheeling stars, running and running for days, barely resting, ever striving to gain more distance from them until at last she would reach the sanctuary of the Sacred Forest - an impassable maze to one who did not already know the way. And there she would be safe, walking the secret paths of the unicorns, unchained at last from the burdens that she had been tricked into accepting.
And what will happen to them, once you've left? spoke up a strange voice in her mind - it was not a mindlink, yet the voice was not hers.
I don't care, Angie replied stoutly, folding her arms. They are nothing to me.
Are you aware of what you're doing? The voice was cold, flooded with superiority.
Of course - I'm not a fool. Once we've reached the Blue Valleys I'll -
Leave them to die.
She could almost tangibly feel the voice departing, and was flushed with sudden anger, wanting to scream at it, pin it down and shake reason into it, but it was gone. Angie heaved a frustrated sigh.
"It's dawn," she said suddenly, interrupting the conversation behind her. "We'd best be on our way, as there's obviously no sleep to be had." She bent briefly and administered a brisk rub to her chilled legs, then without another word marched up the faint and winding path, past Jeff and Alexis and toward the mountain pass.
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