The Forbidden Forest

[Nahara46]

Rhea turned to the little girl, and held her hand out,

"Eolande, Can I have those flowers? We need to put them down so that the magic can honor your mother." Rhea was surprised when Eolande wriggled away instead.

---

The magic was beautiful, Eolande was used to being a tree and... speaking to the forest. To the trees, the bushes, and the flowers. This place was singing, a soft, calming and gentle melody. Mamma would like this place, she would have wanted to stay here. Eolande would give Mamma what she wanted. Eolande left the Girl and ran out, her Mamma's flowers in one hand. Carefully, Eolande gave each of the two flowers a kiss, then she places them gingerly on the ground. Grass immediately sprung up to hold the flowers, and nearly identical flowers sprung up around them. But the two originals were the brightest, biggest and prettiest. Here Mamma could rest, and Eolande could be with Mamma forever.

Eolande leaned down and kissed the two flowers once more, before running with her head down back to the Girl. She felt shy at having run out in front of all these people, but she needed to help Mamma. The Girl leaned down and picked Eolande up once more. Eolande returned to her Safe Black.

The Clouds weren't empty anymore.

[Nahara46]

Jei was surprised, after seeing Kohls acceptance, he glanced up. Where his sister's body had been, was now a tree. It was small, and on it were white roses. It was the mark of how magical it truly was- Roses didn't grow on tress- especially not this kind of tree. Th tree wasn't very tall, it was short actually. But it's bark seemed to be gold colored. It wasn't a bright gold, rather muted and soft. Jei was struck by how much it seemed to match his sister's gentle and shy, but kind personality.

[kumainpink]

Lucinda looked to everyone once more, uplifted that they seemed to be pleased with what they had done. She looked to Fawkes. "Thank you for helping me." she said in a small voice. "I will be headed to my new home for a rest. You are more than welcome to stay with me if you like."

[G. Novella]

Kohl eyed Jei curiously. His mother seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. The tree was lovely, and she felt envious. If only her parents had that honor instead of becoming Acromantula meat.

"Are you alright?" she asked him quietly.

[Nahara46]

Kei couldn't help but think of when her daughter was born. All unicorns were born gold- different shades. She had been pale gold, and it was identical to the color of the tree. The gold that was beautiful, but not vibrant and loud was a testimony to her quiet, but beautiful ways. She'd never been one for being loud or excitable- that had always been Jei. Xie was the heart of the family, Kei was the brains and Jei was the soul. They had lost their heart- How did one live without a heart?

---

Jei looked over at Kohl once more. He couldn't bring himself to nod and lie, but he couldn't say he wasn't. It took a moment for him to find words, "I will be."

[G. Novella]

Kohl looked at the tree for a few minutes. Her own fur was losing it's shade of gold. Soon she'd be pure silver. In fact, she was almost pure silver, just a few gold hairs in her mane. The dead unicorn girl was just a few months her elder.

"Do you want to talk?" she asked Jei, "Or we can run. When my parents died, that's all I did. I ran until I couldn't breathe."

[Nahara46]

Jei shook his head- "I ran already. I took Xie into the battle, and she got killed right next to me because of it. I couldn't protect her like I was supposed to, so I got scared and ran away. My Mum had to find me last night." It was peculiar, without answering her question directly, he'd just started talking.

[Chameleon]

Keane was standing in the group nuzzling and talking with the unicorns, as were his mate and children. He saw Kei stand alone, and he approached her quietly, leaving the other unicorns.
"Kei," he greeted with a solemn air. He felt desperately sorry for the slightly younger unicorn. "How are you?"

[G. Novella]

"I wanted to prove I was fast, so I kept running. I didn't listen to my parents, and ended up running to three Acromantula. My parents got there and told me to run back. That was the last time I saw them," said Kohl, feeling her own sob at the memory. "We both messed up. Argon said they don't blame me, but I blame me. I don't think I can't blame me. Xei doesn't blame you, I don't either. You blame you. I don't know how that's supposed to help, but it does. When you know you're the only one who feel at fault, then you feel less, upset. And hey, the herd hasn't kicked you out yet, that counts, right? They went looking for you."

[Nahara46]

Kei woke up form her reverie as she heard a voice cut in. Ah, It was Keane. Vaguely she recognized him to be another of the herd- slightly older then herself, had two children like herself... Well... Cut that second part.

"I'm... Dealing."

[Chameleon]

Keane looked at her with sadness. He couldn't imagine to lose Kieran or Elora, and now Kei had lost Xie. Elora had told Keane, that Xie had been very nice toward her.

"I'm sorry for your loss," said Keane genuinely. He sighed. It was very seldom that unicorns got killed, and now three on the same day. "We will avenge her on day."

[Nahara46]

"Thank you," Kei replied politely, unsure of what to say. All she knew was that some human took Xie away, but she didn't know who. Who did it? Who should Kei hunt down?

---

"That's the thing," Jei argued, "I don't want to blame me. I don't want to blame, or be blamed. I don't want anyone blamed. What I want is for the blame to belong to no one, because it didn't happen. But it did happen, and I don't know what to do, or even who did it."

[Chameleon]

Keane sighed. It was difficult to even say something to a grieving mother. He didn't have any experience in that. If anyone was better to understand feelings and that, it would be his mate, who was currently in, what seemed, to be an discussion with another unicorn.

"One day," he said. "We're known as the innocent of the woods. But that doesn't mean that we don't feel revenge. I don't know the circumstances around Xie's death, but it will come one day."

[G. Novella]

"So then this blame exists. And you only know a nameless face," said Kohl. "I can't tell you where to put it. Maybe just put it to rest. Whatever it is that works for you."

After she said this, she began pushing around some dirt on the ground. Then she looked up at Jei.

"Enough moping! Smile! Smile for Xei and tell her you'll be okay. If it were me, I'd want to know that my brother can still smile," said Kohl firmly.

[Nahara46]

"If we're the innocent of the woods..." She hesitated, glancing at the tree and back tracking, "Look at her tree- it has white roses. White stands for purity and innocents. If we're the innocent of the woods, then she was the innocence of the innocent."

[Chameleon]

He looked upon the beautiful three. He was of the opinion, that Xie's tree was the most beautiful on this new clearing, but then, he might be biased. He wondered if he should mention his young daughter, or if it would be insensitive, as Kei had lost her daughter.

"I believe that," he agreed, as he thought of his children. Any mother believed it, but he was sure of that Xie was a special case. "My daughter told me, that Xie used to help her once in a while."

[Nahara46]

Kei tilted her head, glancing toward Keane's daughter that she had met on a few occasions. "Yes, Xie would always do that. She was the gentle, quiet one. Xie didn't like the idea of war, she preferred a quiet life. Honestly," Kei sent a glance toward Jei, "She and Jei were like Yin and Yang. They balanced each other out... I'm worried what will happen to Jei without his Yang."

[Chameleon]

Keane noticed Kei glance toward Elora, and smiled slightly. "She sounds like she was very content with her life," he murmured. He glanced too toward Jei. "You just need to be there for him, and comfort him. It will be difficult, no doubt," he said with a sigh. Twins... "Who is that new unicorn who's talking to Jei?" he questioned. He hadn't seen her before today.

[Nahara46]

Kei nodded, grateful for the advice. She followed Keane's gaze and gave a small smile, "The traveling herd that passes through every few years dropper her off. The leader says that her parents were killed by Acromantulas- it wasn't the best place for her to be anymore so he asked if we could take her in. I said yes. Her name's Kohl."

[Chameleon]

"Aha. The traveling herd. Typical them," he snorted slightly. It wasn't exactly a secret that he disliked that herd. That poor foal had probably only been with them, and then she gets dropped off suddenly a place. "Poor foal, though, I say."

[Nahara46]

Kei rolled her eyes, "Play nice," She scolded lightly, swishing her tail, "They have different ways then us. I think it was just better for her to be in a place of consistency, not something that changed everyday and didn't give her time to properly mourn. It'll be better with her here then there."

[Chameleon]

Keane had to agree with Kei, about dropping the foal here. "Alright, that sounds fine, that they dropped her off here," he agreed. "Then they've made one sensible decision," he muttered quietly.

[Nahara46]

"Well," Kei observed, "You certainly have a dislike for the traveling herds."

[Chameleon]

"Sorry, if it offends you Kei," he answered lightly. "It's just my uncle, who left this herd to go traveling. It wasn't seen on with kind eyes by my father. I might have inherited his prejudice."

[Nahara46]

Kei nodded in understanding, "I can see how that would come about. I don't mean anything by it, but please don't mention anything of that sort to Kohl."

---

Jei blinked- Kohl had a good point. Slowly, he nodded, and he would have smiled were he human. Instead, he swished his tail, "That's exactly what Xie would say. Tell me to perk up, because she'd rest better knowing everyone else were happy." Jei was enjoying Kohl's presence- she was proving to be helpful.

[Chameleon]

Keane glanced a bit offended on Kei. "I've got tact, that you know that." Right in the moment, Keane's son Kieran showed up to his father. He swished his tail at his father, and nodded to Kei. "Hi. Father, mama said that we need to go home now. Elora is tired."

Keane nodded and then looked toward Kei kindly, and swished his tail. "Goodbye Kei. We see you later." With that he walked to his family, who were waiting for him, and went home.

[G. Novella]

"See, it helps. So what can we do for fun around here? I'm done moping about," said Kohl, flicking her tail happily.

[Nahara46]

Kei tried to get a word of apology in, she had not meant to offend the elder unicorn. But before she could, he was gone. She sighed.

---

Jei's eyes lit up, "We could race, play tag, sometimes I like to hunt rabbits or other animals. I don't hurt them, just try and catch them."

[G. Novella]

"Sounds fun! Let's do that! I've never chased anything before," said Kohl, "But I'd win any race. I'm the fastest unicorn I know."

[G. Novella]

Harrigan sighed as he stood by Rodimus's tree. He wondered what this place would mean to him now. Rodimus had always been a sign of good cheer for him. Would this tree carry Rodimus's wishes over for him too?