Chaos and Change: Eyes of Stars' Story

Chapter Two

Eyes of Stars hadn't known exactly what he was getting into when Kaz roped him into this trip. Once he'd found out, he was adamant about going home and not taking part-- not that Kaz had listened, or let him go home. So he'd had to make the most of it, and wound up perversely pleased when something changed near him, proving the point to anyone who say him that he was probably a bad idea to connect minds with. Who knew what would happen, then-- what would change?

But it seemed like not even the ouvriax were paying attention to the warning signs, because he'd been herded into the stretch of field reserved for the bonding that afternoon, along with the other candidates and sponsors. There was a whole pack of ouvriax, children with their encouraging parents and a few bondless yearlings or near-adults, even a middle-aged one or two who had somehow lost a bond and wanted a new way to start over. Kaz eyed him warningly, so he couldn't even sidle very far away from the other candidates. Even if he could have, Daaruuv was busy twining herself around his hocks, as if to let him know that she would happily trip him and tangle him up if he tried to run. He should have known that even the feline wouldn't be on his side.

Perhaps, he thought a little unhappily, they reacted more to the loneliness of a Dynceless wynd than to his worries about alienating others though no fault or intent of his own. It wasn't right for a wynd to be alone, no matter how different he might be, and he knew it as much as he knew that no other wynds would want to chance staying in a Dynce with him. Some small part of him wanted to throw caution to the wind and accept this, since he really had no choice, and perhaps Kaz, Daaruuv, and even the ouxriax elders knew that.

He'd thought that perhaps the fact that the grass under his hooves had shifted spontaneously from a dusty brown-green to a vibrantly bright blue might deter cautious ouvriax foals-- didn't they call them kits here, or pups, or some other non-equine name?-- from choosing someone like him. Apparently this, too, was a mistake on his part. The very first of the small ones-- relatively speaking; they were all at least as big as Daaruuv, herself, and liable to grow quite a bit in the future-- to come trotting out, brazenly and quite as if she had nothing to fear, came trotting out directly to his feet. She paused, looking up at him thoughtfully with minty green eyes, her black horns still comparatively short with youth and her fur an attractive cocoa brown. How long would that last, if she chose him?

The ouvriax foal nodded once, at last. "I think you'll do nicely! If your kitty doesn't mind, I think I'll bond you." Daaruuv purred, sitting proudly between his front hooves; apparently she had no misgivings. The ouvriax giggled, though Eyes of Stars just turned back his ears helplessly. "We should have lots of fun together," the ouvriax foal said, then looked down at the bright blue grass, which she was currently standing on. Eyes of Stars held his breath, waiting for her to change her mind, but when she looked back up at him, her smile was impish and her eyes sparkling wickedly. "Can you do that do anything?"

Eyes of Stars bobbed his head. "Anything, or anyone... but I cannot control it. It just... happens."

"That's okay," the foal said, and reared up to her hind legs, putting her forepaws on his shoulders and licking the end of his muzzle. That first contact between them formed the bond, and, weak-kneed, he almost didn't hear her next words: "Things get boring if they stay the same all the time, anyway!"

"If you say so," Eyes of Stars blinked at her, tentatively nuzzling the fur between her horns.

Kaz seemed pleased, at least, when she came trotting over a few minutes later, a slightly older ouvriax in tow. This one was pitch black, and probably very nearly full grown. He wasn't quite as tall as Kaz herself, but then, Kaz was quite large. "All set, then?" she asked briskly.

"This is--" Eyes of Stars paused, then continued with some surprise when he realized he knew her name, "Yesinal."

"Hi," Yesinal chirped, blinking up at the tall Kaz, then added, "Hi, Hivele," to the second ouvriax. He inclined his head to her.

"Congratulations on your bonding," he told her gravely.

"Thanks," she grinned back. "And on-- yours?"

"No, I'm afraid not," Hivele said regretfully. "I just wasn't ready. Perhaps at this anory place the lady tells me of...."

"Everyone ready to go home, then?" Kaz said, cutting short any further trivial conversation. She always was rather abrupt, and not one for chatter....

"Let me go say good-bye to my family!" Yesinal squealed, bounding off without so much as an "all right, then" from anyone.

"You have any good-byes to say?" Kaz demanded of Hivele, who shook his head slowly.

"I was the last of my kret," he said in his quiet voice. "My bonded was the last of the old members, and she died last fall."

"I'm sorry," Eyes of Stars said, trying to imagine what that must have been like-- he had yet to experience a death close to him, much less the death of a bond-- and failing. The thought of the tendrils of thought already stringing between himself and young Yesinal severing finally and possibly painfully was already difficult to envision, and he had only known her for a few minutes. He already felt like he could almost hear her, if he tried hard enough, gasping out a farewell to a few of the adults over with the last of the unbonded ouvriax foals and accepting a few more congratulations and a couple "we'll miss you"s in return.

The ouvriax in front of him flicked his tail in dismissal of his sympathies. "I have grieved... she was a good lady, and she will want me to move on."

"Well, there'll be plenty of 'moving on' available to choose from at the anory," Kaz snorted. "Start with the other wynds, maybe, they'll actually eat the same way you people do." She was shifting her weight impatiently from one side to the other, as if she couldn't wait to get back and get away from the hubbub. "Can't you tell your kid to hurry it up?" she complained.

Eyes of Stars gave her a reproachful look. "You can wait another five minutes while she says good-bye."

Kaz glared at him, and looked somewhere between aggrieved and impressed when he didn't back down. "Five minutes," she said grudgingly. "Then we leave."

It took Yesinal a bit longer than that, but of course, Kaz waited. She grumbled, but she waited. She even took a minute or two to thank the ouxriax clan-heads for their hospitality before going back to grumbling. It was a courtesy Eyes of Stars hadn't expected of her. Hivele wasn't particularly talkative, so Eyes of Stars passed the time "listening" curiously along the bond, letting Daaruuv bat at his tail when he twitched it for her, and musing to himself about what it would be like to have someone who didn't care what he did without meaning to. Because, somehow, he didn't think she did.

Finally, Yesinal came scampering back, a few impromptu farewell gifts dangling from her horns: a carefully-woven chain of wildflowers, from another of the ouxriax foals who was a friend of hers who wasn't leaving; an out-clan, probably human-made flask of something or another, painted gaily and attached to a chain, from one of the hatchling-teachers; and a hide-and-twine toy that looked vaguely like an ouvriax, wrapped up in the flash's chain so it wouldn't fall, from her favorite of the guardian-mothers. "Okay!" she announced breathlessly-- she'd run the whole way, and now plopped herself, panting, at Eyes of Stars's hooves. Quite as if she didn't intend to move, and didn't mind being pressed up against his legs, no matter what the consequences. Eyes of Stars winced a little as the flask's painted fruits mutated randomly from blue to red, and hoped the little one wouldn't notice.

"Ready, then?" Kaz drawled. She didn't really sound as annoyed as she probably wanted to.

"Yup," Yesinal grinned.

"Right," Kaz huffed, and fumbled around in her shoulder-bag for the teleport-charm.

"So we're going home now?" Yesinal asked, looking hopefully up at Eyes of Stars.

"Yes." He sighed. "I hope you like it."

"I'm sure I will," Yesinal beamed at him. "You'll be there!"

All worries about chaos and change aside, Eyes of Stars couldn't help but be touched, and he leaned down to nuzzle his young bond's shoulders affectionately. And then they were gone, going home, to a rather different life than what he had left.

Chapter Three

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