>Can A Heart Really Skip A Beat?<

[>>|Comanche|<<]

The hawk watched the bubbling lagoon as it wavered under his perch. The trees whispered to him, the water seeming to yell a warning. But this happened a lot these days, and of course he paid no heed and swooped down, daggers catching a fish. No, he wasn't interested in eating it. He was just bored. Turning around, he dropped the dead fish back in the water, and watched the others devour him. Now landing on the ground, he reverted back to his original form, and settled to graze under the shade of the trees. It was hard to find good grass these days, and the lagoon was one of the few places there wasn't much snow. The water, though, had a thin sheet of ice on it, and showed where he had easily broken through with his claws. The large horse noticed a fish writhing in pain on the shore, and without knowing what he was doing, put his muzzle on the fish, and then watched it heal and shoot back under the ice. This was weird enough for him, and he stood petrified, watching the other fish greet the one he had just healed. Looking around, he moved down the shore, and continued grazing.

[.::Sha-bade::.]

The mare had entered the area in time to see this occur, and found it a bit odd. For a moment, her instincts urged her to leave, but as she did so many other times, ignored them. She cautiously moved forward, shaking snow build up from her painted coat. Her arched neck bobbed in rhythm of her step, orbs partially closed from the chilling winds. Finally she halted before him.

"So we meet again?"

[>>|Comanche|<<]

"So it is."

He raised his well shaped dial, Andalusian boa and gender making him easily tower over her. Batting his tail at nothing in particular, his eyes locked with hers, and he knew she had seen what had happened just seconds before.

"I know no more than you."

[.::Sha-bade::.]

"Yes.."

Sha lowered her crown, muzzle brushing the grass below. She did not feel like grazing at the moment, and lifted her her dial again. The thought of the plague still haunted her, and she couldn't shift her mind to much of anything else. She went to the edge of the near by water, staring blankly ahead.

"What will happen to Sweetwater..." Sha-Bade said softly, stare falling to the many fish below her. She wondered of the sickness, the healers...if there was anything to halt this plague.

[>>|Comanche|<<]

He followed her slowly to the shore, gazing down at the now melting ice, and the fish pondering below it. Their cold blank eyes stared up with a new found sadness, as if even they had sensed the change in Sweetwater.

"Chaos, most likely."

He sighed, looking further into the depths.

[>>|Comanche|<<]

He shrugged, letting his tassels hang limply, with only to wind stirring them. As the wind blew his drapes aside, he watched the blackness of his forelock waver in front of his eyes. A memory suddenly came back, from long long ago when he was young and ruthless. He remembered a time when his forelock hung as low as he long mane, and that reminded him of the last plague. That was where the small wisps of scars scattered down his legs and on his belly were from. The fire, he could remember, burned endlessly, as chaos opened up on Sweetwater. He had been driven by fright and anger into a dead end, and the flames would have killed him if he wasn't a shapeshifter, and was able to fly out. He had only remembered that as the fire lit the grass right under him, and the scorching pain that followed. He was weak for days, and even now when he dipped into a pond a quick sting from his burns reminded him of that day. That day changed his life. He couldn't let it happen again. Antigo could just imagine Sha-Bade in the same situation, a young horse who just wasn't ready for such terror. He looked at her again, a new determination in his eyes.


He couldn't let that happen again. The experience had hardened him, but it had given him a new sense of evil. It had taken a long time to wear that off, but still he had a sense of trickery.

"The plague has hit Sweetwater before, and much will happen here, when someone experiences what I have experienced."

Again his memories popped back, being sick for a while himself, chaos, killing sprees, running away. Becoming as wild as the sea winds. Fighting just for the right to be in Sweetwater. Those were hard times, and they would come again.

[.::Sha-bade::.]

Sha's expression softened, feeling a bit sorry for him. She stepped closer, turning her dial to him to speak.

"You must have had some horrible experiences.."

She had concern in her eyes, as she usually did in moments such as this. Also in moments like this, she would calmly speak with the other, which often helped in calming them down. Though in Antigo's case, she couldn't be sure of her own prediction.

[>>|Comanche|<<]

(Sorry, just pretend all that didn't happen. I had to edit it all out.)

He nodded solemnly.

"You aren't old enough to know how much Sweetwater changes over a few years."

[.::Sha-bade::.]

Sha-Bade sighed, her dial dropping. She remembered when she was only a foal..too young to understand the meaning of pain and loss..and when she thought Sweetwater was of and nothing more than peace and happiness. She wished she were that young again..

Her soft optics closed, canvas trembling as fear once again overwhelmed her. What if she became sick? What if Evira became sick? What if something happened to Antigo? Thoughts raced through the young mare's mind as she was not able to control her emotions any longer.

[>>|Comanche|<<]

(No refering to the healers anymore.)

He shrugged, looking out over the lake again, watching as it started to rain. Sweetwater was going to go through another dark age, there was no doubt in that.

"You don't want to know what Sweetwater was when I was young."