Get the sun back in the sky. [Izuori]

[skibbereenfarms]

LIDA ROSE.
gentle eyes.

They had been apart for so long that Lida Rose had completely lost track of the time. Now that her silent stallion had returned, it was as if they had never been apart. But alas, Alice was proof that time had gone by, and she and Izuori had in fact been apart. Now that he and her were together, she felt that she had to be extra careful and protective over him. She didn't have to keep him safe from others (except for Alice, perhaps), but she was mostly trying to protect him from himself. She knew now the entire reasoning for his departure, and there was really no way to fix or improve things; the issue would always be there, forever ingrained in the stallion's psyche. The way he reacted, well, it was all that he knew. Lida accepted that. She accepted it when she declared her love for him.

The mare stopped. He was at her side where he belonged. It didn't matter what happened anymore. She'd have to get past it if she ever wanted to keep a hold of that feeling she got whenever she was around him. Until he was truly ready to talk with her about it, Lida wouldn't push Izuori to do anything he wasn't mentally prepared for. So, in order to 'let loose' a bit, she decided to bring him to a lovely, secluded spot for the two to just be together. It was still pretty difficult for him to be around Alice, so she sent the young one off to explore and let her mind wander as it always did. The air here was nice and cool, surprisingly pleasant for a winter's day. The snow under her hooves crunched, even though she moved slowly and allowed her hooves to touch the ground gently. The winter silence showed that the two were truly alone together; just how Lida Rose wanted it. The mare glanced around at the leafless trees, smiling and admiring the beauty hoping that her mate would try to mimic her and perhaps do the same. Although she loved all of the seasons, winter held a special place in her heart. It was mainly because most saw winter as a nuisance, and they couldn't wait to see spring again. However, Lida could always find something that she could see as beautiful in the wintertime.

She didn't even notice that she wasn't walking anymore. Her head was stretched up to the sky, her eyes were closed, and her nostrils were flaring as she sampled the scents. One that stood out to her the most was, of course, Izuori's. At last, the mare smiled; a pure, happy smile that hadn't been seen for a very long time. There was really only one thing that would make this moment any better. "Birds," she said. "It's a shame they can't handle the cold." By now her head was lowered and rotated to face her mate. "But I suppose we have winter all to ourselves then, huh?" The gentle mare offered a simple smile and a caring gaze; the two things that she always offered the stallion, and the two things that he could usually give a natural response to. If only he realized just how much she missed this. Lida Rose had longed to smile and watch her love for quite a long time. Now that she was able to do so, everything just felt right.

[Snowfrost]

Winter was something the stallion wasn't sure he could say he remembered, nor experienced, fondly. But then again, there wasn't much to the word itself that he could explain. Words, simple explanations for emotions -- even they were something he had to grasp with more difficulty than others. Izuori was not stupid, nor challenged mentally -- emotionally, that was a different subject. The dark stallion could have blamed it on his past, his arrival, his upbringing; he could have blamed it on the fact that he really had no one to teach him anything at all aside from how to stay alive; and then again, Izuori desired neither to live nor to die.

The white-haired stallion was something many would quickly call odd -- and they would be correct. Izuori was odd, and nothing would ever change that. But apparently even he had someone out there who could accept his abnormality -- both accept and embrace it, even. She was his white-faced companion, his mare and mate. She was his Lida, the mare who bore him a daughter... but that was a subject he didn't think about often. Alice was... well, to put it lightly, someone who rattled the very core of the stallion. He couldn't explain why entirely, either, but he did possess reasons. Regardless, it was all something of the past. It wasn't like Alice was disappearing anytime soon -- and honestly, that would shake the stallion more to the core than if she lived a long and healthy life.

The wind picked up, dancing along his back and through his mane and tail. The pale hairs wound with the currents, twisting and spiraling, his forelock extending farther than his mane ever could. The hairs brushed along his eyes, causing the stallion to squint. It only hurt his left, though -- the right almost never responded anymore. Milky blue, the evidence of the first and last gift his mother gave him aside from life itself -- and even then, she and his sister never would grow with him. Izuori's nostrils flared lightly, exhaling softly with the winds as they continued rolling along his skin. The chill of winter nipped at his body, but he didn't make a complaint. The snow crushed and sloshed under his hooves, leaving a light trail that told others that he'd been here -- but he gave it little thought. Izu could both see and smell her, though, simply a few feet ahead of him.

His Lida Rose, his mate. Whisking his tail lightly along his haunches, the silver-haired stallion followed her without much sound nor thought on whether or not to make his own path or continue following her directly. It didn't matter in the end, really. He was with her, and they were alone. Completely alone. Nothing more than small birds, and the occasional passing deer. He'd become skilled at noticing others before they approached, and reading them without actually knowing what they were feeling (in common terms, more than anything). Some days he still thought of what it would be like to experience and know what normal horses did. What entirely made emotions, anyway? Was it some magical feeling one got by making a certain face? The stallion often remembered watching foals, mothers, and others experience many things on their faces -- he knew it by sight, but he himself never experienced it.. to his knowledge.

The stallion's head was lowly hanging above the ground, in his normal fashion, as he trailed behind Lida, stopping as she did when she began speaking of birds. The bay mare turned her gaze to his, smiling gently, and Izuori was again washed over by a feeling he wasn't that knowledgeable in labeling. However, it was a reoccurring thing, so it must be something he possessed -- right? At least, it made sense when she spoke of it. Sighing lightly, the stallion picked his head up and scanned the branches of trees for the absent birds. Did it seem like he was thinking? Was it strange to be thinking about thinking? Was it strange that he was wondering how he was looking before his mate, in the first place? After a couple of moments of pure stillness, the dark stallion shook his head lightly and lowered his head back to normal. Too much thought -- he didn't like thinking about thinking.

Another light lash of his tail, and Izuori moved near Lida. His eyes watched her silently, simply peering into the depths of them and watching to see what occurred. And then the waves occurred again, the feelings he didn't know were feelings, the thoughts that came from a source he wasn't sure of. Again the desire flooded over him. Izuori wished he could understand for her, that he could be normal for her. But he couldn't even stand around his daughter for long, much less understand what it was like to be normal. It was all just a futile battle that was too daunting for him to endure, it seemed. Snorting lightly, Izu glanced to his white-faced companion before lifting his eyes to the skies above them. The clouds lazily floated, everything slowed and paced. Everything was simple, in the skies. Everyone was normal.

There were some days when Izuori wondered what it would be like to live in the skies with Lida Rose, as clouds.

[/size][/justify]