The trip back down from the rocky cairn wasn't as filled with the same spiritual high as my vigil at the peak, but it hadn't left me completely. Its afterglow still followed my hoofsteps as I made my way down the rise, tingling in the back of my mind with promises of a bright future. I'd done a lot of things and seen a lot of places in my short life, but nothing could compare to the feeling of freedom that came with an entirely new world.
As I moved steadily back to the village along the ocean cliffs I found I had a good view inland. Palms and tropical ferns made up the tree line of a jungle that spread over the landscape, halting abruptly at the sharp incline of a volcanic mountain at the center of the island. Dark clouds gathered at its peak. I wasn't a meteorologist but those clouds looked like thunderheads coming in from the east (though who could say whether or not the sun set in the west in Equestria), and they didn't look like light summer rains.
I picked up my pace, not wanting to get caught in the open when the storm arrived. I made good time and was at the gate in a matter of minutes. Two guards stood watch with their wooden spears, glowering at me as I approached.
I put on an apologetic smile. "Hey, guys! Uh, sorry about earlier. I just really needed some 'me' time..." They didn't reply and eyed me suspiciously as I passed. At least they didn't try to bar my way or gut me with their pointy sticks. That would have been awkward, and frankly, I wasn't very confident in my ability to defend myself at the moment, being in an unfamiliar body and all. "Well, keep up the good work boys." They grunted in response, probably not understanding a word I said judging by the shouts I'd received earlier.
The village wasn't as crowded as it had been during my departure. Most likely, the villagers were bunkering down in perpetration of the coming storm. Canvas flaps had been drawn over the holes at the top of tepees, and the smoke of cooking fires bellowed out from under them as families began warming their tents for the cold night ahead.
Below the cliffs of the sea wall ocean waters churned more violently, turning the muted green color that often came before harsh weather.
I moved with greater haste as I attempted to retrace my steps back to Zecarien's tent, but that soon proved a difficult task amid the forest of very similar looking tepees. The first drops of rain started to fall when I heard a familiar voice call to me. "Mister! Mister Star Thought, over here!"
The voice belonged to the zebra foal who was with Zecarien when I'd awoken. I noticed she didn't have a glyph mark like her mother, and I wondered for a moment if they were similar to cutie marks for zebras. She trotted hurriedly toward me just as the rain started falling in sheets, its sudden fury soaking me to the bone almost instantly. High above, the dark clouds crackled and roared with thunder. Lightning jumped through the sky like luminous spider webs. The foal froze and huddled in fear as the loud cracks of lightning lanced toward the earth somewhere close to the village. It must have been instinctual. Like ponies, most mammals naturally feared loud noises and sought shelter from storms before they came. Personally I liked rough weather. It was like a challenge to overcome, and I reveled in it.
She called out again, her voice shaky with fear. "M-mister S-star Thought, mother asked me t-to come f-find you and bring you b-back." She was rooted in place so I went to her instead. I laid down in front of her with my hooves around her sides and crooned my head down so my neck rubbed against her cheek. It was the closest gesture to a hug I could offer in my new form.
"Shhhhhh, it's okay kid," I cooed gently, "We'll go back together. I won't let any of the mean old lightning hurt you, I swear."
What? I had a soft spot for children so sue me.
The foal calmed down and stopped shaking. I lifted my head, and she looked at me with huge puppy dog eyes that should've been illegal they were so freakin' adorable. "You promise?" she asked with a pout that nearly gave me diabetes.
I got back to my hooves and performed the ludicrous gestures that made up the most solemn promise in Equestria. "Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye," I recited, going so far as to actually shove my hoof into my eye socket, "Ow! How does she do that without going blind!?" In response to my display the foal giggled and stood up as well. It was then I realized then how tiny she was. Hell, she barely came up to my knees. I thought it best to get out of the storm as quickly as possible before a stiff wind carried her away.
We trotted along the slick granite slabs that the village sat upon, moving through the mass of tents and wooden hovels. At times she would pass under me and disappear, reappearing on the other side of me moments later. She would laugh when I glanced over to check on her to find she wasn't there anymore, causing me to look around frantically only to find her right next to me on the opposite side. I gave her a smirk in response to her shinanagans. Kids would be kids after all.
A short time after we set off I began asking her about herself. "So what's your name kid, and while we're on the subject why can I understand you and your mom? The other villagers seem to speak a language I can't make heads or tails of."
She beamed up at me. "I'm Zala," the kid chirped excitedly, "My mother has me and my brothers practicing Equish so we can read our sister's letters. When it's just us we don't speak Zebracan." She spoke like the reason was completely obvious and required no further explanation.
The wind was starting to really pick up. "Uh-huh, ok I can buy that, but-" I halted abruptly as a rogue thought occurred to me, "-wait! Hey Zala, what's your sister's name?"
"Zecora," she said matter-of-factly, "She's a shaman in training. She traveled to Equestria to undertake her trial. Mother says that a shaman leaving the island to complete their training isn't common though."
I blinked a few times before I burst out laughing. "No freaking way! Your sister is Zecora? The Zecora?" I laughed so hard I couldn't tell if my eyesight was obscured by the rain or my own tears.
Zala looked up at me with hopeful eyes. "You know my sister?"
"Sorry kid, I don't know her, but I know of her," I replied, reigning in my amusement, "She's pretty famous in certain circles."
Zala looked about to respond when lightning rent the sky again followed by a deafening boom of thunder. She flinched and trotted closer to me, the interruption completely derailing the conversation as she clammed up with nervous tension. She kept so close that I had to pay special attention so as not to trip over her.
"Zala!" a voice cried out over the storm. "Where are you munchkin?!"
It called out again, and the kid's ears pirked up. "Dusk! We're here!" she answered back, breaking into a gallop toward the source. I almost tripped over breaks in the granite slabs, but I managed to pace her through the blinding sheets of rain. It helped that keeping Zala in sight effectively meant keeping my eyes on the ground in front of me.
The warm glow of a fire from an open tent flap became visibly through the haze. As we drew closer I could see a figure standing next to the tent sillueted by the hearth's light.
The pegasus mare stood straight and proud against the buffeting gusts of wind, uncaring of the drenching torrents the storm loosed. Her deep blue coat and charcoal mane made details hard to pick out as the sky darkened and night settled in behind the storm, but there was something in her gaze that was both familiar and unsettling. I suppressed a chill trying to claw its way up my spine.
Zala almost bowled her over with a flying tackle of a hug. "Dusk! You came to back!" The pegasus managed to pry the kid from her neck and set her down with an amused look. "Have you come back to live with us?"
Dusk lowered her head and nuzzled the kid. "Sorry munchkin, just visiting your mom for supplies." Her mane covered half her face and was cropped short, ending just passed her muzzle. She looked up sharply with her one visible eye, leering at me like a wolf does at something that's invaded her territory. I recognized the intent behind her gaze. She was looking for weaknesses, and how she might exploit them. "Is this the stray she's been taking care of?" The question wasn't directed at the kid.
"The name's Star Thought," I said in a low tone. I didn't want to come off as rude, but when someon-er-somepony looks at you like that you have to return it, or you'll never be seen as an equal. So I did. The best way to give a good icy stare is to think of the worst memories of your life. Mine was in the rocky mountains of Afghanistan, surrounded and outnumbered. Exhausting, terrifying days of nonstop fighting followed by sleepless nights filled with hallucinations of the enemy closing in around us. Shadows moved through the trees soundlessly as I kept watch next to the body bag of a friend who's only fault was being unlucky. Sometimes I could hear him breathing even though he was already dead. I took in all of the horrors I'd witnessed until it left me feeling emotionally numb and turned her cold gaze back on her with all the intensity I could muster, forcing my body to become absolutely still.
Her eye twitched, but she didn't look away, and I realized why her gaze was so familiar. She'd seen death. Not a relative passing away in a hospital bed kind of death, but violent murder. In the seemingly peaceful land of Equestria this pegasus had willfully ended life. The idea that such a thing even happened here was far more unsettling than the emptiness reflected in her eye.
A shadow appeared in the tent's entry, bringing our staring contest to a close. "Dear me child, you had me sick with worry. If a storm is coming through you should come home in a hurry." Zecarien bent down to nuzzle the kid before prompting her inside with a hoof. "Now hurry inside and get warm by the fire. I'll handle our guests as I'm sure they must be tired."
Zala seemed about to argue, but a firm look from her mother cut her short. "Yes mother." She sighed and shuffled passed the older zebra into the tent.
Zecarien smiled after the kid and returned her attention to Dusk and I. "Miss Dusk, I'll have those supplies ready as soon as I can. Would you like to spend the night and rest for a span."
She looked like she would refuse before glancing over at me again. "Thanks Zecarien, I'd love to." The zebra bowed and gestured for her to enter. Dusk brushed her hoof against the tent flap and went inside, but not before shooting me another glare over her shoulder.
Zecarien waited until Dusk was gone and cocked an eyebrow at me, her expression one of wry amusement. "You have a strange method of making friends. Especially when you are still on the mend." She must've noticed the look Dusk had given me. I snorted and tried to unload a wiseass comment about my luck with women, but she cut me off with a wave of her hoof. "I have no time for you to speak. At least until your treatment is complete." It must have been a little revenge for rushing out like I did earlier, but I just smiled and nodded.
The first thing I realized when I got inside was how cold it was outside. I hadn't noticed while I was out there, but I was damned near freezing. Zala held her hooves over the cooking fire in the center of the floor and made a sound of contentment while her brothers had a competition of 'who could get closer to the fire without getting burned' going. Dusk laid on a wicker mat at the far side of the domicile, eyeing me suspiciously while Zecarien moved to the cooking pot over the hearth and began chopping up vegetables for what smelled like a soup of some kind. I found an open mat near the fire next to Zala and laid down.
The warmth from the hearth almost made me pass out as soon as my head reached the ground, but Dusk had other plans. "So, Star Thought." She almost growled the name. "Where are you from? I don't think I've ever seen a creature like you."
The question was innocent enough, but the underlining thought behind it was: 'What are you doing here, freak?'. I decided the best way to annoy her was to be terse but candid. "I'm a Kirin. I'm not from here. I washed up on the shore today, and I have no idea how I got here." All truth but nothing to go off of. 'Take that bitch!'
Her expression remained polite, but her eye was smoldering. I'd answered her question but given her no usable information, and she knew it was on purpose. She clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth and looked away. It was an obvious tell of frustration.
Zala stirred next to me. "Oh, are we asking questions now!?" she queried excitedly, "Can you use magic!? I mean, you have a horn, so you're like a unicorn right?"
'Oh right, Kirins do have horns.' I resisted the urge to face-hoof. I'd completely forgotten about that, but in my defense, I couldn't even see it when I looked up, so how was I to know? "Uh..." I thought hurriedly to come up with an answer that wouldn't tempt the kid to ask me to perform magic since I had no idea how to. Out of the corner of my vision I noticed Dusk had taken an unhealthy interest in the question, or more likely my slow response. "I don't know," I answered honestly, "I've never seen another Kirin besides me, so I've never had anyone to teach me how." It was the best kind of lie. The truth, but one they would misinterpret.
I felt a weight against my side and found Zala pressing up against me with a remorseful look on her face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you sad..." she trailed off for a moment, "Sister Zecora wrote in her letters how lonely it was being the only zebra in her new village." She didn't look like she knew what else to say. "I'm sorry..."
Now I felt like a real bastard. She looked up at me with tearful eyes like she was about to cry, and it broke through whatever pitiful emotional barriers I erected with little effort. "Oh, I couldn't be angry at you if I tried kid. There's nothing to forgive." I said, attempting to keep the guilt out of my voice. Across the tent Dusk shifted uncomfortably and resumed her silent vigil.
Outside, the storm raged on, battering the sea wall protecting the village with violent gales and splitting the sky with quaking thunderclaps. Inside, the air was filled with the smell of freshly cooked food and the sound of children's laughter as we shared a meal together. It was nice. I hadn't shared a meal with my family in years, and I'd nearly forgotten how good it felt. Even Dusk settled into the atmosphere, not quite smiling but content, and with only a few wary glances in my direction.
After dinner, Zecarien pulled blankets out of a basket near the back of the tent for everypony, and doused the cooking fire. The kids were the first ones asleep, snoring softly against the noise of the storm. I pulled the blanket over myself and laid down on the same mat I'd been using for dinner. Across the domicile I saw a flash of green against the dying embers of the hearth. Dusk was watching me from her mat in the dark. I rolled over, away from her prying glare and towards the unlit side of the tent, concentrating on the cadence of the rain pelting against the canvass walls. I fell into a restless sleep, dreaming of the one part of my life I wish I could forget.