Nisha stretched as she woke, sighing as her bone leg once again slipped out of joint. With a slight grumble, she shook the offending leg out until she heard the crack that indicated the bones were back in their proper places. Other Soquili thought the sound was sickening but it was normal for her. Sometimes she wondered how her mate, Vancos, felt about it but she had never asked. And probably wouldn't if she were honest. He was the only Soquili - besides her father- that she could tolerate for long periods of time. And even her father sometimes pushed his luck. Lucky for him that his mate Trillian knew when Crosswind was beginning to push the edges of his daughter's control.Moving from under her preferred sleeping area Nisha sighed at the sunlight. She had slept through the morning and now it was mid afternoon. The sun was bright and the creepy Sqouili debated the merits of staying awake versus going back to sleep until nightfall. She much preferred the dark to the light but sometimes the light was a necessary evil. With another sigh, Nisha trudged into the light and took her route deeper into the forest. She needed to find more herbs for her... remedies. She chuckled to herself, careful that her hooves didn't crush anything as she walked.
While she wasn't paying attention, the sky grew darker. Faster than it should be. Finding a clear place in the canopy wasn't easy, but Nisha found one eventually.
"Fascinating," she mumbled to herself as she watched the sun being swallowed by something dark. It was painful to watch, the sun still burning into her eyes, so the creepy Soquili turned her attention to the terrified little animals skittering around her hooves. She could practically feel their fear at the sun disappearing. It gave her a thrill, and for once she wondered how other Soquili were handling this strange occurrence.
She started toward the edge of the forest she resided in, wondering if any of her family were nearby. In the back of her mind a rogue piece of her hoped Vancos was alright. As she left the safety of her forest, Nisha could hear rapid hoofbeats. A pause and a flicker of her ears so she could hear better, and she snorted. Her father. While she had been curious about her family's reactions to this strange occurrence, she wasn't sure how long she could tolerate her father's presence.
"Nisha!" Crosswind called out when he was near enough for her to hear him. His heart pounded in his chest with his exertion as well as his fear and worry for his daughter. She was strange, yes, but she was still his daughter. He still loved and cared about her, regardless of her... eccentricities. "Nisha, I just wanted to check on you. You know, with the sun getting eaten." Crosswind wasn't sure what it was that was happening to the sun exactly, but it sure looked like it was getting eaten."Yes, Father, I am quite fine," Nisha told him with a sigh in her voice. "And you? I haven't seen you in a while. How's Trillian?" She almost sounded bored. Well, at least her voice was honest. She hated making small talk, and even asking about her step-mother was an effort sometimes.
Crosswind huffed as he caught his breath, pawing at the ground. "I'm okay, and so is Trill," he answered. "What about your mate? Vancos?" Crosswind asked after the stallion who had somehow captured his odd daughter's heart.
"Vancos is fine, Father," Nisha said, tilting her head up to look at the sky. The sun was becoming even smaller, and the creatures around them even quieter as they feared the sun's disappearance. Their horror, her father's fear, it all tasted like a fine wine on her palette. "You seem frightened, Father," Nisha murmured. "Does the sun's withdrawal scare you?" She was pushing her father's buttons, she knew. He claimed to not care about her predilections, but she knew the truth. Nisha unnerved Crosswind, and her father tried to hide it but Nisha saw the way he looked at her.
"Nisha, the sun is disappearing. Aren't you the least bit afraid of what it could mean?" Crosswind's voice was strained as he tried not to show too much of his fear. "What if the sun never comes back? What happens to life if there's nothing left but the dark?" The stallion's voice broke on the last word. He was scared, and it wasn't a feeling he was used to. He hated it, this feeling of helplessness and not knowing what was going to happen to the sun. He just wanted his family tot be safe. Trillian was taken care of and as soon as he was able to secure Nisha, he would be joining his mate.
"Life always finds a way," Nisha said with a sigh. Constant darkness would make hunting easier, for a while. At least until the prey grew used to living in permanent darkness. "As for being afraid of losing the sun?" She paused and breathed in deeply. Her heart beat in her chest at the same rate it always did. Her thoughts spun through her mind with no sense of urgency. Her breath came easy, inflating and deflating her lungs at a normal pace. "I can say with conviction that I am not afraid. Should the sun disappear forever, then life will go on much as it has been. Perhaps plant life will need to evolve past the need for sunlight, but creatures will adapt. They will adapt, or they will die. That is the way of the world, Father, whether you want to admit it or not. You may think everything is sunshine and rainbows, but I think not." Nisha snorted at her father's fearful countenance and stamped a hoof. "Go home, Crosswind, and huddle against the horrible dark with your mate. In the meantime, I will live as I always have. Accepting of the dark and everything I can find in it."
As his daughter finished speaking, Crosswind stared at her. He had always known that something was different about Nisha. He had always known that she wasn't really like him, and probably would never be like him. But he had never expected that they would be this different. That there would be such a chasm between them despite their shared genetics. "I see," he said softly. He backed away a step, uncertain how to act with her now. "I hope you're happy," he told her sincerely. "I hope Vancos makes you happy, and keeps you safe. Despite our... differences, you deserve nothing but the best, daughter, and I'm sorry that I wasn't the ideal father for you. I did the best that I could with what I had, and even though you're nothing like what I expected, I'm proud of the mare you've grown up to be. You're strong and independent, and I admire that in you."
Crosswind heaved a whickering sigh as he watched Nisha in the growing dark. It was almost complete now, the disappearance of the sun. The creatures were silent now as the darkness consumed everything. Crosswind held his breath along with the rest of the world, waiting to see if this was the end of life as they had known it or if the sun would be coming back at some point.
Nisha chuckled in the darkness and closed her eyes. They would be next to useless now, anyway. She wondered if there were other Soquili who would prefer this world shrouded in darkness, like she did, and if there were others like her, how could she find them? She was almost certain Vancos would assist her. She could still hear the shuddering intakes of her father's breathing, and pondered if he had actually meant those things he said. In the darkness, she inched forward on silent hooves until she was nearly nose to nose with her father. "I am happy, Father," she murmured. "I enjoy my life, such as it is. As you said, you did what you could, but I was never going to be like you. Perhaps the Spirits gave you a changeling child and kept your true offspring for themselves. Perhaps the Spirits just wanted to play a sick joke on you. Whatever the reason for my disposition, I have you to thank for keeping me safe as a basket and as a foal."
As she spoke, her father's features began to clear once more and she sighed, disappointed. "It seems you have nothing to fear, Father. Light has prevailed over darkness once more, and the sun is returning to it's position in the sky." Nisha huffed and backed away from her father. "It seems this strange event has done what it needed to do, and we seem to have needed this conversation. Thank you for raising me, Crosswind, but you need never seek me out again. Trust that I am happy and thriving, and I will do the same for you."
Crosswind watched as the light gave him sight again. "If that's what you want, daughter, then that's what we'll do." The stallion nodded and moved to leave. "Gives Vancos my best," he said before beginning the journey home to Trillian. He was sure she would have quite a lot to say to him when he returned.
(WC: 1565)
