Azarel hummed lazily as he watched the leaves drifting off the tree branch, falling down, down, down, landing upon the already thick carpet at the base of the tree itself. It wasn't often that he found himself staying in one place for long, as he had wandering feet, as his mami called them. Thankfully, his beloved and their boy were the same. Speaking of his beloved...
Az unfolded his legs before heaving himself to his feet, taking a moment to shake out his thickening fur before tossing his mane to loosen the leaves that clung in his thick black hair. Casting his gaze about, he spied Hector talking to one of the young ladies they had run into the day before. A warm expression crossed his face as he moved across the open glade to join them. Slipping up beside Hector, he took a moment to nose the smaller stallion's shoulder in greeting while murmuring a soft mi amore, before nodding to the girls, "Evening, ladies. What are you lot over here whispering about, hmm? Trying to tempt my mate away?" His tone was clearly teasing as he cast a playfully 'challenging' look at them, making them both laugh.
The kelpi mare shook her head, still laughing faintly, "No, no, nothing like that! We were wondering, if it's not too rude to ask, how in the world two land walkers such as yourselves ended up with a hunter son!"
"Ah!" He looked at Hector lovingly, "Now that is a tale...Would you like to start this tale, or shall I?"
Hector hummed, leaning into Azrael and smiling. "Mi corazon..." His ear flicked, then he chuckled. "It doesn't feel that deep of a story, we asked the spirits for a foal of our own and they gifted us Andre." Which, speaking of... Looking to the side, Hector watched Andre, all gangly limbs and teenage awkwardness, chasing after leaves and bouncing into piles of them. It made his heart swell to watch their son having so much fun. Oh, the love he felt for their son...
Turning back, Hector cleared his throat. "Though I suppose we could start with when it was... About this time last year, I think?" He looked to Az, checking if he remembered right. "That we found his basket, at least. Alone, in a world growing colder for the season..."
Heaving a dramatic sigh, Az pretended to lean his larger bulk against his smaller mate as if he could no longer stand on his own, "Where is your sense of drama? Your flair for the story??" He gave the young kelpie mares a sorrowful look that set them off giggling again, "You see? You see what I must suffer, though? No flare for the dramatics, no grasp of the story!"
Az had to prance away from a well-deserved n**, then laughing all the while before nuzzling back up to Hector, murmuring at him lovingly, "I kid! I kid! You are perfect, my love." Turning his head, he followed Hector's gaze over to watch Andre's fumbling attempts at stalking. Like his mate, he felt his heart warm with love and joy watching the young stallion at play.
Turning his attention back to the group, Az nodded, "Si, the leaves had long since traded their colour of green for the shades of fall. We had halfway through our journey, further south to where we often spend our winters. The sun had just about set the day we stumbled across an abandoned basket in the middle of the trail. I nearly stumbled over it in the gloom, as it was as dark as the undergrowth around it."
Blue eyes grew slightly distant as Az got lost in memory, "It was so small, so alone. My heart broke as I wondered who could be so heartless as to leave a child behind? I feared the foal inside might not still live, after all, how long had it been left here?"
Snorting playfully, Hector pretended to give short chase to Az. His forward ears and the smile on his face betrayed his jest, though affection glimmered in his eyes at his larger mate. "Let me show you dramatic!" Behind them, he heard the distinct crash of leaves as Andre successfully pounced into the pile. Part of him wanted a friend or companion for their son, somebody for him to play and grow with, but who could they find to fill such a role?
Watching Az, his gaze softened, sorrow seeping in. Oh, the memory of such a little basket... "Nobody else around, just this one lone basket... We couldn't leave it, so we took it to a safe den space so we could keep it warm. And wouldn't you know, out of it came our little Andre." Little being... Relative now, given how much Andre had grown by now.
Tutting at Hector again, Az sighed, "You tell a story like giving a report! This is why I tell the bedtime stories." Shaking his head, the big gray stallion turned back to his audience, "As Hector said, we could not leave him there. We knew we could not travel on with such a basket, so we started searching for a place where we could safely bed down for the winter. We were lucky to happen upon an abandoned cave just downstream from the river near where we found him. So with access to shelter and fresh water, we decided to stay put and wait out the winter with the hope that come spring, the little one would be able to travel."
His smile turned soft watching his son gamble about, "It was the first storm of the winter, not yet snow, but the freezing rain that would turn the ground to slush when our little Firefly emerged. He was so small but so fierce already. It was love at first sight. Of course, I had no idea how we would raise one such as he, but I knew in my heart he was my son and we would figure it out."
The blue-hued kelpi mare before them crooned, looking enchanted, "Oh, that's so sweet! I can't imagine how difficult it must have been."
Az shook his head with a loving smile, "It was not difficult at all, he's our son."
"I can't help it, it's how I was raised. Hopefully Andre's gotten your abilities to tell stories." The coppery-gold stallion turned, lovingly nibbling at Az's shoulder. He listened, remembering their first winter with Andre, with their little Firefly, the light of their lives. He was their precious son, the one they wanted, that they chose to have when somebody else had clearly chosen to not. Or perhaps the spirits had left the basket for them? Only they would know.
As he closed his eyes and leaned into his mate, Hector heard the sound of Andre trotting over before the young stallion was tucked up against him, clearly worn from his play. "Have a good time over there in the leaves, mijo?"
"Yeah, but the leaf piles aren't as big as I remember them being." The young stallion pouted, free wing stretching out. After a moment, he looked up and noticed the two mares and asked, "What are you guys talking about, anyway?"
Hector smiled as he lightly nibbled Andre's mane. "The day we found your basket and you completed our familia. Oh, how little you were then, and look at how big you are now!" It was no surprise how the leaf piles Andre played in as such a little foal seemed to be so much smaller now, when Andre was himself so much bigger.
"Oh... I don't remember that much." Which was probably fair, he'd been such a little foal back then. How many Soquili could remember being that little, after all? "Was this before the winter that didn't want to end?" Then Andre got a horrified look. "Is winter going to come again?!"
Az laughed as he nosed about Andre's mane, ruffling his hair, "Of course they are smaller than you remember mijo, you are much larger than you were back then. You are growing into a fine stallion!"
"I'll say," One of the young kelpies gave Andre a flirty look beneath her lashes. She likely wasn't much older than Andre but still it made Az snicker knowing Andre would likely puff up like an offended bird at her flirting. He nudged Hector and wiggled his brows teasingly at his mate.
Az was right, Andre did puff up like an offended bird. He didn't verbally respond, though, instead hiding his face against Hector's side with a grumpy grumble. He was still at that age where he didn't want to talk about feelings, and especially where he didn't want to think about finding somebody. All that stuff was still icky to him.
The other young kelpie, up to this point quietly listening, grinned big and nudged her sister. "I don't think he likes you much. But hey, you look just like me, so you'll find somebody who recognizes how gorgeous you are." Then she paused, considering. "Maybe he likes other colts...?"
"I'm sure he'll figure it out on his own eventually." Hector nuzzled Andre, then turned and nuzzled into Az. "I was a full stallion by the time I figured out who I liked, after all."
The kelpie nodded, then leaned into her sister. "Well, I hope the spirits bless you two more, you're wonderful and lovely gentlestallions."
Smiling, Hector said, "Thank you, mija. And I hope you two find what you like in life."
[Kea FWC: 855 & Drani FWC: 811]
