The Academy: We are the children you reject and disregard; DELILAH

All because of you,
I haven't slept in so long;
When I do I dream,
Of drowning in the ocean,
Longing for the shore,
Where I can lay my head down;
I'll follow your voice,
All you have to do is shout it out!

The cold rain of the coming storm was soon to hit; it was not always as bright and glorious as many commonly thought around here. Despite some of the grandeur of the landscape in sunshine that filtered across the shadows like scrubs, wiping the darkness away... There was beauty still in the drowning of water, cascading, soaking into the ground. The water was cold as ice upon my back, but still, there was a deep sense of appreciation and welcome that escaped me through the precipitation. There was no ultimate reason, of course, as to why I enjoyed the feeling of rain sliding effortlessly down my flanks; perhaps it was almost as though the water was cleansing me. I had gone so long with this apprehensive tension, following me everywhere. It was like a face was watching my every movement, laughing when I fell, kicked me while I was down. And now, it seemed as though the eyes that had been fastened upon my neck where being erased, dessimated. From existance. There was never a time I had wished the disappearance of another; but this was no beast, no other beast. No.

It was my own fears, hatred, paranoia, strangling me from behind. And the rain was sending all of it away. In the fields that grew nothing but weeds, I found a flower at my feet, I hummed calmly to myself, alone, but... Happy on the edge of a hill, staring down at a lilting blue lily, tipping this way and that in the gentle wind and kind rains. Bending there in my direction. I wrapped my mouth around its stem, pulled until the roots gave in, finding there what I've been missing. I felt the cold rain of the coming storm...
Pensively I lowered my blue roan head, allowing my velveteen lips to wrap around the green stalk of the blue lily, intending not to tear it, but to ease it out of its position in the firm Earth. With the assistance of my Earth element, I calmed the worried lily, telling it to become at ease, to release its hold for just a few moments. That indeed, I swore on my life that I would return the flower to its rightful place.

Right now, there was someone I had to see.

Yes. I knew she was here. With my newfound powers as an Apprentice, the teacher of the students, I had gained the ability to read minds of everyone but my weakness- which was Air. Fortunately, the bay mare that had traipsed uncertainly into my lands, looking about with about as much knowledge of the place as myself when I had first arrived in the Element. A smile flickered at my lips; my heart pounded briefly because of what I was doing, but with a painful swallow, I told myself I was only doing this as a sign of an apology, and of friendship. The pregnant mare was not far; as I crested the hill of wet grass, there she was, my mind connected to her inconspicuously, so she could not tell I was there. Until, of course, I hummed out inside her head quietly, All because of you, I believe in angels; not the kind with wings, no not the kind with halos. The kind that bring you home, when home becomes a strange place. I'll follow your voice, all you have to do is shout it out. And then I showed myself over the hill, still carrying the fluttering blue lily in my maw, walking casually over after my baritones slipped away from Delilah's mind.

My pillars were strung to a halt as I came within five feet of her; shyly I tilted my head forwards, opening my lips to show the blue lily in a sign of friendship. It was not a gift for her to hold, for it was only truly the horses of the Earth who understood the feelings of the plants, and instead I planted it back into the ground. Inside my mouth these petals browned, dried up falling to the ground; but it was already too late now. I pushed my hooves into the earth, returned this flower to the dirt, so it could live- I go now. I hummed, glancing back up to Delilah's features slightly before covering up the last of the roots with a careful, fatherly touch. Secretly I hoped she would accept my offer of apology; there was a point we passed for which we can't return, but I still hoped we could repair some of the fixable damage. My blue roan form shifted slightly before I looked away, my ink black pools glancing about with a sort of wistful demeanor before returning to my friend.

"Delilah. What is it you are doing in the Academy? Have you chosen a new path with your life?" With a meagre smile I stepped closer, looking down at the blue lily between the two of us. Grow. I whispered in my mind, though the words may have transferred into Delilah's head as well. The flower was no longer bent under the heavier weight of the rain; it now opened its petals, looking to the sky without fear. And without further adue, it became taller, larger, bluer, until it reached my knee. It was the extent of my current abilities, but it helped nonetheless; I watched the blue flower's happiness radiate from the absolute colour that gleamed. I hoped Delilah shared in my revelation; every plant was a living being, and had to be nurtured, cared for. I loved the plants of the Academy- it was the only land that had an extravegant number of the floral sort. And I spent much of my time here.

All because of you,
I believe in angels,
Not the kind with wings;
No, not the kind with halos,
The kind that bring you home,
When home becomes a strange place;
I'll follow your voice,
All you have to do is shout it out!

EARTH II
W O L F
EMISSARY