March
Spring was nowhere to be found. Lucky sighed at the prospect. The weather as of late had been bitterly chilly. The frost on the grass appeared to be a permanent fixture instead of a morning ritual. The young stallion sighed at his tragic luck. He turned to his bonded, “This reminds me of a story from when I was a colt.”
Charm, a much smaller pronghorn than the Kelpi, raised her head to look up at him. Their den wasn’t much taller than his head fin, just enough room to shuffle around. Though it was small quarters, it was helpful in blocking out the winter weather and keeping the heat in. “How so?” she asked him.
He smiled lightly, just a mere shadow of his usual jovial self. “Well there was a particularly elusive fish in a pond near my childhood home. Most kids would try to find it all day and even into the evening. Some claimed to have seen it, but their stories never added up and most just assumed they were telling tall tales. Finally, an elder stepped in…my grandsire actually, and he sat us youngin’s down to tell us the truth about this mysterious fish.”
“Was it a magical fish?” Charm chided him.
“Indeed it was!” His smile broadened. The pronghorn chuckled. “He sat us down and started his whole story. I can’t remember it exactly so I may miss a detail or two.” Charm just silently nodded her head, Lucky Dapplebay could be known as forgetful.
“The fish that resided in the pond had been there for generations, my grandsire remembered hearing the story from his grandsire when he was a foal! It wasn’t as large as some of the kids were claiming but certainly large enough to not end up as a snack. Its scales shimmered in every hue all at once.”
“So a rainbow fish?” Charm interjected.
“Yes and no.” He replied.
“Huh? You said that it had every hue. Every hue all at once.”
Lucky flicked his bangs out of his face while being mindful of the ceiling. “More like a mirror. Its scales shimmered and reflected every color.”
Charm narrowed her eyes at him but stayed silent.
He continued once he realized she wouldn’t be adding anything more. “My grandsire speculated that it was because of these highly reflective scales that it was able to stay hidden so well. They called the fish the Seer. It stayed in that pond all year long but the only time it was ever truly spotted was on the cusp of Spring. No sooner and no later.”
“A lot of kids started to pipe up with their stories. And my grandsire listened to each and every one of those foal’s stories. He was kind when he explained to each how they misinterpreted what they saw, from a shiny toad back to a broken shell in the soil. Until he heard the last foal’s story. I’d never seen an elder’s eyes widen so quickly until that day! The foal hadn’t seen the actual Seer but they had found a reflective scale that seemed to reflect every color in the light.”
“Ah but did they have the scale?” The pronghorn finally piped up.
“They did!”
Charm’s expression changed to genuine surprise. “So you saw it too?”
“I did! They passed the scale around so we could all get a good look. My grandsire was so impressed. And that’s when I got the idea to create a spotting party. The foal that found the scale took us to the side of the pond where they found it. It was near a rocky embankment that provided a lot of hidey holes, perfect spot for hiding fish. I set us up into groups and we each took shifts to watch for the Seer. It was probably the fifth night of doing this that I finally spotted something shimmering in the water. I woke up my shift buddy as quietly as I could and then we both watched in awe as it swam out of a small crevice, circled around in a few loops before returning to its home. We were the only two to have witnessed it. Then as if by magic, Spring had arrived and we never saw a glimmer of it again.” He chuckled to himself. “Perhaps we need to find the Seer so we can be done with this long winter?”
The pronghorn glanced at their den’s entrance. It was currently closed but she could hear the wind outside. “That’s not a half bad idea, Lucky!”
Word count: 759
