//------------------------------// // To Read // Story: Wind and Stone // by Ruirik //------------------------------// The lake was a hard gray-blue color, and without even a breath of wind it seemed so smooth as it could have been frozen over. Pathfinder recognized it from his days training at Fort Updraft, which now felt like a lifetime ago. No, perhaps a different life all together. There were no clouds above, and it was unusually warm for a late autumn evening. One could see the capital of Stratopolis, illuminated by thousands of lanterns, floating on the far side of the lake if one squinted.  Weights seemed to anchor themselves to the corner’s of Finder’s mouth, pulling his lips down into a deep frown. He disliked lakes. Compared to the ocean he grew up by they were boring, stagnant, and dirty in their smell. The ocean was constantly alive; full of fish and corals and great beasts that old mariners told of in late nights at the bar his father took Finder and Longbow to sometimes. The waves were never silent, the ocean never still as glass. Like the heartbeat of the world they pounded against the shores in a steady rhythm, defiant of the wind’s directions.  And then there was the smell. Gods how he missed the smell. The tang of salty ocean air that clung to the fur and feathers. When his father took them out on a fishing trip the waves would splash over the boat, misting them with water. The salt made their feathers glisten and provided a nice treat when they preened back home.  Home. Yes, the smell reminded him of home. He longed to be home listening to his mother’s singing while he knitted a new fishing net and his father sipped at his ale. But home wouldn’t be right anymore. Not with Longbow gone. Finder shuddered and quickly reached for the flask of wine Summer had left for him. He downed a mouthful hurriedly to chase away the thoughts of his brother, his family, but it was too late to prevent the burning in his eyes. He coughed at the potent hit of alcohol and cringed in his simple cot. Maybe a change of position would help ease the discomfort. Pathfinder grimaced as he tried to lay more on his stomach instead of his right side. The minuscule effort produced a pained groan, and a sharp stab down his left side and into his legs. He gasped and fell back to his uninjured side with a curse hissed out under his breath. It was all Finder could do not to cry out. If he laid on his stomach, his whole left side hurt. If he laid on his right side, his broken wing throbbed. If he even attempted to lay on his left side he might as well beg for the sweet release of death. The most comfortable he’d been had been riding on Rain’s back, drunk on the wine summer fed him every few hours. “Are you okay?” Rain asked. The voice startled him, even though it had become familiar. He hadn’t noticed her her come back in. Finder nodded quickly and wiped his fetlock across his eyes to hide the tears. “Y-yes ma’am,”  Rain gave the colt a sympathetic frown as she set down a stack of books and parchments. She sat down next to him and picked up the wine flask, giving it a shake to gauge how much was left. “A lot of pain today?” Pathfinder nodded.  “From your wounds, or…” she let the words hang in the air. Summer and Cloudburst had told her what happened, but the colt hadn’t spoken a breath of it. In fact he’d hardly spoken at all since they rescued him. Not even to Carver, Summer, or Cloudburst.  Rain slowly extended her right wing, the longest primary feather carefully wiping away the moisture collecting at the corner of his eyes. “Kid?” Finder avoided her gaze, hoping that if he could, perhaps she would see he was crying.  “Finder?”  The way she spoke his name, gentle as the ocean’s breeze finally drew his gaze up to meet hers. Her steel blue eyes stared deep into his own. He saw in her eyes no judgement, no anger, only a patient sympathy. It broke the paltry dam he’d tried to build, and his tears flowed freely for the first time in months. “I-I’m sorry,” he whimpered to her as a broad wing stroked at the back of his neck.  “Nothing to be sorry for, kid,” Rain said, trying her best to give him a reassuring smile, though it came off as more of an uncomfortable grin. Finder’s eyes clenched tightly shut. He felt her wing gently urge his head forward where his forehead pressed against her chest. She held him there, letting him hear the steady thump-thump-thump of her heart until he calmed down. She didn’t ask him why he wept, a gesture for which Finder was deeply grateful. After he’d calmed down, Rain let her wing slip out from behind him and folded it back at her side. She lowered herself down so that they were at eye level and smiled again. “Feeling better?” Despite himself, or maybe thanks to the wine hitting him, Finder managed a soft chuckle. The sound didn’t last long before he coughed. The cough spiked pain through him again and Finder almost doubled over, though this time Rain was there to catch and hold him. “I’m sorry, Miss Rain,” he said through gritted teeth. “Kid, how many times do I gotta tell you to stop calling me ‘miss’?” Rain asked, her expression amused and annoyed in roughly equal measure.  Pathfinder opened his muzzle to apologize again, only for her to lightly press her hoof to his lips.  “No,” she shushed him gently. “You don’t need to apologize when you haven’t done anything wrong.” Her hoof lowered and Rain sighed softly. “You saved my life, kid. You never need to apologize to me.” Heat blossomed across Pathfinder’s cheeks and spread like wildfire. His ears, his neck, Hell, the whole of his head seemed to burn. He opened his mouth to say something. To say anything! Yet words failed him. There was a soft knock on one of the beams of the tent that Finder was staying in. Well, in truth it was a large canvas tent that had once been a field command tent at Fort Updraft. Rain had simply repurposed it as a temporary home and headquarters until she got new orders.  “Come in,” Rain said, and Finder twisted his neck around to see who it was. Summer trotted in, followed close by a stallion Finder didn’t recognize. He was large, sporting a dappled gray coat, a blonde mane that was cropped short, and more than a few bandages of his own. Pathfinder squinted at the stallion. He looked familiar. “Finder, this is our friend Stonewall,” Summer introduced the stallion with a smile. “He was at the ca...erm… that place.” The stallion simply nodded. Rain moved away from finder and wrapped her hooves around stonewall’s neck, squeezing him so tightly Finder thought surely shy must be strangling him. Stonewall seemed to smile, and wrapped a hoof around her back in kind. “It’s good to see you up and about, my friend,” Rain said with a genuine smile.  Stonewall nodded again. “Are you sure you’re fit for duty?” Rain asked? Stonewall nodded. “I’ve cleared him for light duty,” Summer explained, patting the large stallion between his shoulder blades.”He can’t fly or fight, but he can still relay written messages and work as an aide for the Legate’s Office. And the fresh air will do him good.” Rain chuckled. “Tried to escape again, didn’t you, Stone?” The stallion only flashed her a bashful grin. Finder noticed he was careful not to open his mouth. “Alright,” Rain continued, walking over to the stack of books and papers she’d set down earlier. She shuffled through the pile for a few moments, opening several rolled scrolls and skimming them over before giving them to Stonewall. “I need to to get these to Centurion Southwind. She should be securing the storehouse with her militia. When you’re done with that,” she reached for a separate stack of census maps. “Get these to Haze. He and Thorn know what to do. After that,” Rain paused a moment and smiled. “Get yourself a wine and go for a swim. You stink like a mule.” Stonewall made a deep, wheezy sound that Finder later realized must have been a chuckle. He saluted Rain once, and she returned the gesture before hugging him once again.  “Welcome back, old friend,” she whispered to him. Stonewall smiled, and shot Finder a curious look before he disappeared from the tent in a slow, limping, gait.  Summer watched him walk for a minute before turning to Pathfinder. “He had his tongue cut out,” she said, a pained look on her face as she walked over to where he lay. Carefully she pulled the thin brown sheet down his body, giving him an apologetic glance as he shivered.  “Sorry Finder, we’ll get you by the candles just as soon as I put fresh bandages on you, okay?”  “O-okay,” he said with a nod, teeth chattering. Summer looked back at Rain, then down at Finder. “Do you want Rain to leave?” Finder shook his head quickly. “Is it alright if she helps me get you cleaned up?” Pathfinder blushed for the second time that night, but nodded again.  “Still having trouble standing up?” Embarrassment made Pathfinder’s ears go flat. “Yeah.” “Hmm,” Summer frowned and looked at the hole in Finder’s thigh where the arrow had shot him. “Looks like that infection is flaring up.” She leaned down and sniffed at the wound, her face twisting at the smell. “Yeah. We definitely need to clean that out. Rain, can you help stand him up?” “Sure.” With a nod of her own, Summer slipped around to Finder’s side and gently slipped a hoof under his chest. “Rain is going to slide her hoof under your stomach and hold you up now, alright?” “Okay.” “Finder,” Summer got his attention, waiting for him to look her in the eye. “You’re safe here. It’s just me and Rain, okay?” The colt nodded, though his heart was already starting to race as Rain stood near his flank. He took deep breaths, told himself again and again that he was safe. Rain was here, Rain would protect him. Once he was ready, he gave them a nod. Rain’s thick foreleg slid under his stomach and brushed his wing. Finder made a yelp as the mending bones were tweaked, and Rain all but fell over herself to apologize. She was careful as she got her forelegs around his waist, and even more delicate as she helped him get onto all fours.  Pathfinder kept his eyes clenched shut as Summer began to remove the old bandages. The sound of the fabric peeling away from dried, tacky, blood was enough to make his stomach churn and cause him to break out in a cold sweat. When it came time for her to pull off the pad on his chest, he blacked out for a few moments. “Finder?” “Finder?” “Pathfinder, wake up for us now.” His eyes fluttered open and a moan escaped his lips. He saw a white figure looking down at him. He blinked a few times, his vision slowly clearly until he recognized Summer’s face. A moment later he realized Rain was no longer holding him. He was laying in his cot again, fresh bandages wrapped around his torso, shoulder, and right foreleg. Summer sighed and rubbed a hoof through his mane.  “You blacked out on us,” she said, chuckling a bit. “Sor—” “Stop saying sorry,” Summer lightly reprimanded him. She pulled the top off the wine flask and coaxed him to take a drink. After the wine she gave him a water flask, urging several mouthfuls before she pulled it away and dried his chin on her fetlock. “It’s probably for the best. It made it easier to clean your wounds and wrap you up.” “Thank you, Summer,” Finder said, feeling exhausted despite how much he’d slept over the weeks. She smiled to him and rubbed his mane again. “You’re welcome, kid.” Gathering the dirty bandages into her bag for boiling and reuse, Summer filled up the wine and water, then slipped out into the dark. Finder and Rain were left alone again, with the large mare standing guard over the broken colt. Finder noticed a small fire had been started as well, with fragrant pine knots popping as the flames danced over them. He shivered, but scooted away from the flames and held his burned hoof tighter to his chest. Rain put a hoof gently on his shoulder, hardly putting any pressure for fear of hurting him worse. “It’s alright kid, I got you.” Finder smiled despite himself. The first real smile he could remember having. “Thank you Miss Rain.” The Legate of Nimbus made a playful groan at the evil ‘miss’ title, but that too turned to a chuckle. “You good, kid? Want a book,” Rain offered, gesturing to the stack at her desk. “Or you just gonna watch the stars tonight?” Finder paused, the silence poignant enough that Rain took notice. “Kid?” “I, um… I can’t read.” The revelation caught Rain by surprise, but rather than laugh or tease him, she seemed to study his expression. “Oh.” Finder tilted his head down, feeling his cheeks burn again. He wondered if he should just have some more wine and try to sleep, when she interrupted his thoughts. “Would you like me to teach you?” Pathfinder’s ears perked and his eyes grew wide. It took most of his strength, but he forced his upper body up a little. “Y-you could teach me?” Rain made a modest shrug. “Well...yeah. I guess I could.” To read. The very concept was something Finder never dreamed he’d get to do. Only a few ponies in Altus were literate, Longbow being one of the few. But he’d never gotten to teach Finder as there were no books or scrolls in their house. And while Longbow could read, he had admitted to be fairly bad at the art. “Yes, please!” Finder said, the excitement so palpable that his body ached from it. Iron Rain chuckled and helped Finder stand. With her help the two slowly made their way to her desk. She sat Finder down, then sat behind him, letting him use her as a backrest to ease the strain on his body. Taking a book off the top of the pile, she opened up to the first page and pointed to the first word with her primary feather.  “We’ll go slow to start. Follow my lead and repeat after me, okay kid?” Pathfinder nodded. “Yes ma’am.”