Post by Sileauniamh on Sept 21, 2008 21:44:24 GMT -5
Yet did I love thee to the last
As fervently as thou,
Who didst not change through all the past,
And canst not alter now.
The love where Death has set his seal,
Nor age can chill, nor rival steal,
Nor falsehood disavow:
And, what were worse, thou canst not see
Or wrong, or change, or fault in me.
Lord Byron
As fervently as thou,
Who didst not change through all the past,
And canst not alter now.
The love where Death has set his seal,
Nor age can chill, nor rival steal,
Nor falsehood disavow:
And, what were worse, thou canst not see
Or wrong, or change, or fault in me.
Lord Byron
::Rae crept out in the early morning, a few hours before the first light of false dawn. She had swathed herself in her piafwi, its folds covering over her clothing and her pale limbs, the hood drawn up to hide her bright hair. Softest leather boots kept her steps silent, as she made her way to Zayre's stables, her keen amber eyes making sure she was not seen entering through the side door. Once
inside, she pushed back the hood so that she could look around, surrounded by some of the finest horseflesh in Rhydin. She went straight to Silkswift's stall, a lump of sugar from her pouch his gift this morning. Vizuhn stamped angrily in his stall ... that stallion thought that he was the only horse that Rae should ride, that preternaturally smart horse that she had purchased when she had bought Rauko for Mintiper. But Silkswift ... he was the
one she chose.
After saddling him herself, and double checking all the tack, she took up his lead in her petite hands, the brown lead rich against the black of her leather gloves. Rae stroked that great plate of a cheek, such affection in her eyes for him. He had been a gift, from dear Shanna ... so many years ago, when she had died in that awful accident. Rae daily thanked the Lords of Air and Dark that it had not been a permanent state. His coat still
gleamed, his hooves were still sound and fine, his muscles still strong though there was frost in that coat, and in his mane and tail. He was aging ... but gracefully indeed. He nickered as they passed a birthing stall, that held a beautifully marked grey mare. Black on her ears, tail, mane, hooves ... she was a horse also bought from the Arrendhur merchant, but far more gentle than Rauko or Vizuhn. She tossed her head, and moved so that she
could not look at either Silkswift or Rae ... which made Rae laugh softly despite her apparent need for secrecy. Her name was Tinuviel, and she was the first mare to catch foal from Silkswift. Rae felt a moment's excitement from this, that she would have a mare or a stallion of her dearest horse to ride when he grew too old, but then she was melancholy again for the same reason.
Rae did not want Silkswift to someday be too old to ride. She could remember riding his back, the wind tearing at her clothing and hair, so fast that she could almost not take a breath, especially with her laughter belling from her. Turning away, she led him quietly outside, pausing a moment to slip her hood back up before a graceful move put her astride his broad back. She settled in, taking up the reins in both hands, and with a barest flick
of movement, set him to a walk. She winced as silver shoes rang on the paving stones, but it could not be helped. Looking back to ShadowSpire, she thought she saw a flicker of movement by one of the doors, and wondered if it was perhaps one of her children up, looking for her. She felt a pang of remorse, at the thought ... but she had to do this.
Elegant gloved fingers rose to touch the black collar around the slim column of her throat, then dropped to touch the ring which hung between her breasts. Her wedding band. She had taken it off, when she had begun to feel that he was never coming back to her. She had been shattered, and looking at the ring and thinking of the promises made when it was placed on her hand hurt her more than she could ever tell anyone. Yet she could not bear to put
it aside completely ... because she also saw the hurt in Ysabeau's eyes when she had taken it from her finger. A flash of russet in the darkness caught her eye ... Alinor of course, faithful familiar following her even now. Through the gates then, and on the path that led between the gardens, low to Silkswift's back, still trying to be unseen. Her eyes glowed golden in the night, her infravision making gleaming discs out of their soft amber as she
rode past Zayre's flower garden, full of beauty from the late summer and fall blooms that she nurtured there. Some might have found it odd, that Zayre kept the flower garden, while gentle Rae ... Rae's garden was a maze garden.
Wrought iron fence glittered with early dew in the starlight, here a spider's web was picked out like silver by the same. The gates loomed up, and then she was past them. From atop Silkswift's back, she could see the gleam of whitest marble from the statues inside the hedgemaze, hear the plashing of the grand fountain at the center. She longed to go in, to lose herself for a time ... but that was not why she had snuck out. Looking about to be
sure she was not followed, she snapped the reins and let Silkswift stretch out in a run, dust pluming from each hoofbeat like a flag of purest white powder. Down the path they rode ... to the ruins at the ocean, where she had often spent time with Mintiper.
It always came back to him. A million things conspired to remind her of him, each day. Ysabeau ... now twelve, she looked more like her father each day, as if he were reborn to flesh as a girl, so beautiful to make a heart ache, and still loving her Poppa. Rae could sense, that Ysabeau felt that she was to blame for him leaving this last time ... and Rae found that she could not dispute it ... for she still did not know why he left them.
Donovan ... such a bright boy ... just over a year, his blond hair curling like his father's and those eyes ... stunning green swirled with silver, a perfect blend of Rae's own amber and Mintiper's deepest blue. How proud Mintiper had been, to see his son. It hurt Rae, that Mintiper had missed those precious firsts with his son ... his first time to stand, those tottering baby steps ... his first word. But Collette ... hurt worst of all.
She seemed so perfect, in her tiny form ... she had the look of Donovan on her, that she would resemble her older brother as she grew. But Mintiper knew nothing of her ... and Rae wondered, if he were not dead, what he would think of his youngest child. But one thing Rae knew for certain. She could not go on, as this hollow version of herself, and be a good mother to all her children. She had to know, one way or the other, what had happened to
her husband. So she rode to the ruins, to try a spell, hoping to find her answer before the sun rose.::
Originally posted:Date:18 Sep 2000 09:26:39 EDT-Rae