Path | slithcreun

Gender: Female

Parents/Affinity: Eternal Sun

Special Stats: None

Circle: The Cherished Dreams

Path

The one called Path is often referred to as SunDancer by those close to her. This, it seems, is a highly fitting title for her.

She was the first to come to me without a previous bonding encounter. Vivacious, she showed herself to be strictly self controlled and dominant from the first moment she accepted me as her bonded and keeper.

She is young in years and yet her soul is quite long of tooth, although to be granted such insight is rare. Her beliefs hold strong foundation in the old ideals and she is not a very flexible or forgiving mare. And yet, harsh as she may be, she is also sweetly nurturing and a soft-eyed romantic. All of these things have been slow to reveal themselves over time; the very first impression she gave was that of an old woman who quietly kept to her own strict code of manners.

Although these manners and morals made her appear as distant and forbidding as the sun itself, they seemed to be mere cold sparks when the time came that she and Firefly had first made acquaintanceship with one another. In her belief system his age would require him to be more dominant; he would play the role of big brother and be in charge of things. Unfortunately for her, Firefly quite thoroughly compromised this belief. The very concept of an older serian, much less a stallion whom she felt would be dominant over any female regardless, cavorting around with the behavior of a mere yearling foal was beyond appalling to her.

Path took this behavior to be not only a disgrace but an insult; such actions laughed in the face of her beliefs and the way her mind processed the world around her. Her speech hinted at this warped way of thinking to some extent, for she did indeed use the olden tongue from before her own era, and yet it was many moons before a resolution could be found.

By her behavior, which is to say the regular beatings she gave this older stallion, it was quite clear that she openly detested him. All that could be seen was the cold formality of her manners along with this active resentment; until the day she was seen dancing. All the self-controlled energy that would flare up during her rages was seen flowing with the grace of a sunbeam drifting through the trees.

She had settled within a vast golden field in my lands, largely open and mostly flat with only a few sparse trees for fruits and shade. One great stream cut through the edge of this field that was edged by mountains to the West and north as well as the great sunny forests of Firefly's home to the Southeast. It was here, in the solitude of golden grass that swayed up around her knees, that she had allowed herself to relax from her beliefs enough to dance with the sun through the grass and trees and stream. And as with all with any connection to the Sun Alter, she found a great deal of joy with water while she pranced over the land; for what better than to have something that danced with her and shone with the amplified light thrown by the two suns of this realm?

This was the beginning for her. With her secret passion for expressing light and energy through her dance not only discovered by her bonded, but also accepted, embraced and encouraged, she found that not all things absolutely had to fit to the standards she held in her own mind. To her thinking, proper ladies did not spin around in open fields to no more music than the wind and river could grant, or else merely matching the sun-tingles that pranced over her own skin. With this illusion shattered, others soon followed. Path eventually learned to accept that she was simply a stronger personality than her older, male bond-mate. After all, if she could dance, then she could be allowed to be a leader as well.

The dancing also lead to the beginning of her wanderings. She grew to enjoy herself in her talent, yet she still wished for solitude. It was her moment, her peace, and Path held absolutely no desire to share this with any other. Eventually it came that she found herself in some far distant and generally secluded corner to practice this prancing which she so loved; only to find another there with her.

This is how she met Pixie, and also how the hopeless romantic within her was revealed. Upon that very day, in that very meeting, she found herself so taken with his charm and handsome figure that she pledged herself his mate, as well as his one and only.

He had caught her at a compromising moment, to her mind, and not only accepted but seemed to actively admire this hidden part of herself; the pieces that were hidden behind the shields of proper behavior. Practically swooning for the sweet words and gorgeous stallion, she could never guess the changes that mating to him would bring.

The more she was around this stallion, the more she found her strict views beginning to relax. He made her happy and taught her to enjoy the sensation rather than feeling guilty for not constantly attempting to be a proper mare. He showed her that it was perfectly alright to be herself.

As she relaxed and grew to accept that there would be no negative consequences for being anything less than perfectly proper, Path found that she was much warmer than she had first believed herself to be. Rather than harsh and cold as her manners had indicated, she was fierce, active and warm. As these truths were revealed, she also found that she needed to depend on Pixie less and less to relax into her true state of being; which proved to be a blessing as he was around less and less often.

In one of their last encounters she was granted a foal by him, the mate that had swept her off her feet that one fateful day and proceeded to teach her to love herself as he loved her. Since then she has waited to show him their son; to show him the progress she herself had made.

Her days are currently spent in looking after the foal who, despite the long absence from his father, is growing quickly. Although she tries not to reveal it her heart bleeds whenever she lays eyes upon the son they share, and as the light fades from the sky and the three moons rise with the coming of night she allows the light and warmth to fade from her face as well, giving in to the blackness of despair.

Although she waits, she finds that each day is harder than the last; and as it becomes more and more clear that all that stops her son from being a full grown stallion in his own right is that last touch of magic that pushes all foals into adulthood, so it grows harder to hold on to the lessons her mate taught her.

She is closing her heart again; so far, Path is following a road that will lead to her own doom.

---

For all the grief she found while waiting for her life to pick up again, Path still did her best to hold herself true. She had begun to go down a path that would damage her, near the end of it all; yet it was her efforts not to be so changed or harmed from the events that made it so she was still strong enough for a quick "recovery" from this beginning lapse.

Her mate, the driving force of her self-acceptance, finally found his return. After some drama, a bit of nursing and more than a little explaining, he was forgiven; and our SunDancer, being who she is, instantly set him to the course of helping repair part of what she'd delt with while alone.

Her discomfort with deep water had compounded in his absense, morphing into a pure terror. To have him prove his ability to be there - to prove he was still reliable - she tasked him with helping her face this fear and put it to rest, at least as much as could be done. Once he had, her faith in him was restored. It was with this that she was properly set to rights, the dank hurt that had plagued her finally dissipating.

Reassured once again that her mate had not, in fact of matter, abandoned his family she found herself once again serving as a source of honor and stability. With his love supporting her SunDancer began to grow more firmly into her role as both mate and mother, a fierce joy arising as she and Pixie united in the care of their son. Stealing away for quiet moments from the ruckus of bondherds and family, they found time and chance to honor and nourish their own private matebond.

She has softened, in light of this joy. While honest smiles are still rare, there is a tenderness around her eyes that was once missing. No longer the strict maiden, bound by rules and formality, she bathes in the love of mate and son and holds a radiant glow from it.

Motherhood itself had been benificial for her, granting her quiet moments of joy and nurturing her natural instinct to guide and teach, making sure her code of manners were upheld. She grew proud of her son, and in this found her purpose as his dam. Learning to curb her protective urges proved a challenge, yet with the encouragement of her bondmates she began allowing him freedom enough to explore and take risks. Seeing much of her mate in his antics helps to bind her joy; he is truly the stallion of both, the family that has helped her grow from spirited maiden to nurturing mother, that which has helped bring her ever closer to her cherished mate.

Her life has taken a turn, and thankfully it was not down the dark road of bitter pain that had once been thought to lay before her. In a way, she has more than grown; the love of mate and family has helped to save her from harsher paths.

Indeed, it is love she relies on the most in the deepest part of her core. Where once she danced for form, for the music of the cosmos, for discipline of mind and limb, she now dances for the simply joy of life and to the rhythm of the love which sustains her. Glowing as the suns in the sky, her dance is her smile.