ORIGIN

Winter watched the wolf dance around for a bit and she couldn't help but admire her skills. She was obviously trained and adept with her sword, despite how strange it looked. For a moment, she wondered if she or Kielo would ever become like that, agile, light footed, but strong. No, she could never. She didn't have feet after all. And she couldn't see Kielo hurting a fly...or a rock.

However, she gave Kin-Kin an approving nod. "Impressive. I wouldn't want to meet you in a fight. Not that I ever would." Yes, no more fighting for her.

Her tail curled happily at the congratulations. "Thank you! We're very anxious to see what they look like, with me being a snake and Kielo being a hybrid and all. But we're sure they're going to have peacock tails, just like them. And white fur, of course, or scales if that's how it goes." She didn't really realize she was rambling and getting excited until she looked up and saw Kin-Kim's face. "Oh, I'm sorry, you probably don't want to listen to a mother's chattering, haha."


"And still I feel I said too much."
"My silence is my self defense."

Tags: @Kin-Kin
Notes:

Kin-Kin seemed pleased by Winter's response to her display, and she sat back on her haunches, swishing her tail proudly. Her glow was bright and satisfied. "Heh-heh! That's just what I like to hear," she said happily, her ears pricking to listen to the snake's little ramble. She talked about Kielo, the name she'd mentioned earlier. And the snake's description couldn't help but stir up a dull, yet slightly morbid, curiosity. So Kielo was half peacock, huh? The revelation stirred up a pang of nostalgia, and not in a good way. It stirred up memories of an unfortunate encounter with a peacock, long ago. The only one she'd ever met, in fact.

Nora... she remembered those last words with a chill down her spine. Had that peacock and this... 'Nora', had a child before they'd died? If they still lived somewhere out there, then she ought to know. She breathed out, long and deep. She didn't know who or what Nora had been, but it made an odd kind of sense, and stirred up a melancholy feeling. She drew herself back to the matter at hand with a surprisingly somber note to her voice.

"Oh, no! Please, go on. You and... 'Kielo', sound like an odd couple."

She thought about it some more. "White fur, huh? Feathers, too? Pink beak and legs, maybe? Pink gem?" She paused. "Maybe blind? if not then... that's good, and it means I got the wrong peacock."

---

When I speak.

When I think.

Winter cocked her head, both confused and surprised. Did Kin-Kin know Kielo? But she hadn't recognized their name. If they were acquainted then she probably would have reacted. "Uh, yeah, actually, sounds exactly like them. White fur and feathers, pink gem, peacock tail, pink legs, and definitely blind. Although, they don't have a beak, more like the face of a wolf."

Was that how to describe Kielo? Yes, now that she thought hard, Kielo's head had a very similar shape to Kin-Kin. For a second, she wondered if they were related, but she pushed it aside. She had said that she could never find someone to settle down with. She didn't have kids. There were probably other wolves in the cave.

"They helped me hatch five cycles ago when they were still a baby. I had trouble, you see. I was scared and they were so kind to me. We met up again only a cycle or two ago and we just...fell in love."


"And still I feel I said too much."
"My silence is my self defense."

Tags: @Kin-Kin
Notes:

Kin-Kin blinked in surprise, her heart sinking. So he had had a kid after all. The blindness- that was what settled it. She'd never met anyone else in the caves that had the same condition, so it had to be. Kin-Kin had never thought she'd have to come face-to-face with a past like this again, especially not with how little she tried to commit.

She was silent for a while, struggling with the words to say. Then finally, she breathed out and sucked it up. Kin-Kin wasn't known for backing out of things. "Does Kielo know what happened to his father? What about -uh- ...Nora? er... You do know who Nora is, right?" She lowered her ears and shook herself to smooth the raised hackles along her neck and back. "He thought I was Nora. Said he loved her before he- er. Well, y'know. Bit the dust. Kicked the bucket. Croaked."

She listened as Winter described how they'd met. Touching, it was true, but the worry never left her eyes. "Just... well... If he's being missed, you guys have the right to know." She shuffled her tail uncomfortably, her glow fading into dimness.

I made him a tomb in Polaris.

---

When I speak.

When I think.

Winter understood now. Well, at least a little better. Kin-Kin didn't know Kielo, but she knew their father. But Winter had never heard of anyone called Nora, nor did Kielo ever mention them. As far as Winter knew, Kielo had hatched alone in Polaris, only half a cycle before her. "No, I don't think Kielo knows anyone called Nora. As far as they've told me, they hatched alone in Polaris, among a pile of bones in a second crystal around their chrysalis. If this Nora had a child with this peacock, they obviously didn't care to be there when they hatched."

Winter felt a flash of anger. A parent that wasn't around for their own child's hatching day, the most important day, nor were they there for any part of Kielo's life. Winter wasn't going to be a parent like that. No, she would be there when her children hatched and she would raise them before they went where they wished. She would be a better mother then Nora ever had been.

She didn't notice her tongue flicking angrily and the tip of her tail twitching. Her hood wasn't out, though, as she wasn't feeling threatened or anything, but she was definitely not happy with these apparent parents of Kielo.


"And still I feel I said too much."
"My silence is my self defense."

Tags: @Kin-Kin
Notes:

"He doesn't? Strange," Kin-Kin thought for a moment, her ears barely cocked. But they perked sharply as the snake continued. Amongst a pile of bones...? In two chrysalises? No... that couldn't be right. It sounded almost as though...

Kin-kin knew Kielo's father, she always had. And Kielo resembled, just a little too closely, the one who had died.

Kin-Kin felt an electric jolt of sudden apprehension prickling up her spine, lifting her mane. Her tail swayed slowly, ears tilting back slightly in thoughts. A strange look crossed her face. She raised her head and glanced back the way she'd come, back towards Polaris. And her gaze lingered that way for a while, consideration flickering across her features. "...I have to go." she said finally, glancing back at the snake before breaking into a bounding lope and then into a sprint, lighting up the streets as she went.

There was a dudden knot in her stomach, a terrible feeling that she'd done something horribly wrong. but how was she to know? All she'd done was lay the peacock to rest. But the caves were a big place. It could always be someone else.

Or could it?

It seemed too precise a coincidence; she had to find out for herself.

-Exit Kin-Kin-

---

When I speak.

When I think.

Winter noticed the strange change in Kin-Kim's demeanor. The raising mane, the tail, the strange look. Confused, she was about to ask what was wrong, but, by then, she was bounding away. Winter stared after her, confused. Had she said something?

The peace and comfort of sunbathing was lost on her now as her thoughts were swirling with confusion. She slid off the rock she had been resting and headed off to where she had last seen Kielo. She needed to talk about these strange events.

*exit


"And still I feel I said too much."
"My silence is my self defense."

Tags:
Notes: