When my skin is not my own and the heart is tainted, there is still one thing that will always belong to me. My soul! No more shall it weep in the darkest of nights but it shall become a beacon of light for all those who cannot see. I am a warrior...
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The September sky is a widow's canopy, bedarkened and weeping. The clouds are churlish and they cough out great gouts of rain. The sky is a fragile, pellucid blue against the frail and angel white clouds. The soil is titanium hard and in need of nourishment like a thirsty man in the desert.
As the heavy rain falls down like pearls from the heavens the flowers unfurl in the meadows and ripple like coral arms at low tide. The rivers exhale with a murmurous purr of satisfaction. Silver trickles of water seep deep into the depth of the soil, renewing the roots. A homely, newly baked earth scent arises from the land.
Ahmali stood soaked as if she had emerged from the ocean. Her midnight blue hair grew longer, lingering down her lower back stuck to her skin like the stickiness of sap. She blinked hard for the water droplets to fall away from her sight yet they just made it more blurry. Balencia had dropped her back to her tribe and was on her way to the last tribe, The Armala's.
The land hadn't seen this kind of heavy rain in years if not decades and it seemed as if the earth was drinking it up and detoxifying itself from the blood that had seeped into the very roots of every plant.
Ahmali could see Fillard coming towards her, which he usually didn't. The soaked child stood still as she watched her father come towards her for the first time. He was build almost as big as her uncle, yet he was less stocky and much taller. His face looked hardened for the young father had been through more than he had planned to. His jaw was wide yet his chin was small. He had thick eyebrows that hovered above his pale blue eyes. His nose was angular and came down like an eagles'. His lips were full and a rose pink as they widened and the corners hung downwards. His deep mahogany hair was silky and short with tiny pieces flowing in front of his face. He came to stand in front of his daughter staring at her not knowing what to say.
The sky turned dark and vengeful, streaming shroud of cloud coil came tumbling down. Then, an unearthly caterwauling sound infiltrated the air. The wind whipped into a frenzy. The clouds raced through the sky, thrumming with the charged energy they need to desperately release. Then suddenly (BOOM), bright flashing energy lights up the sky like fireworks, banging, crashing thunder roaring, sizzling and electrifying as it zips across the sunrise.
"Would it pain you to sit with me?" Fillard asked his daughter with a softer tone than what she was use to. The stunned vixen nodded and he took her to the edge of the mountains surrounding their tents. The rain had almost stopped by then and the sunrise started peeping through behind the trees and mountains.
Fillard stood in front of Ahmali for a while before finally easing in and sitting down on a rock nearby. Ahmali followed and leaned against the same one.
"Baba? Is everything okay?" The preplexed child asked her father as she grew more and more confused over his unnatural behaviour.
"Hmph... Ahmali... I... I (sigh)..." Fillard tried to utter what weighed heavy on his heart, yet the words didn't seem to allign themselves. Ahmali waited patiently for her father to be ready before he finally bespoke.
"My child... I've been one to wither you away over the years, but somehow you choose to bloom without my assistance. What a missed opportunity for me." The uncomfortable vulnerability made Ahmali draw her arms around herself and she gripped tightly onto herself.
"Do you miss mama?" He asked as his eyes met hers. His eyes changed to a darker blue and perhaps there was elements of tears for they seemed to glisten. Ahmali broke the eye contact for she was not use to her father being to forward.
"I don't know Baba. I miss having a mother but then I remembered what she did and... I'm reminded... of Amal" the little vixen said as she had her eyes fixated on the ground and contuined.
"Back then, he was truly my Baba. Back then, did he love me like a father loves" she confessed. Fillard looked down at his hands as he was filled with immense guilt for not returning what his daughter felt. He loved her dearly, yet hadn't showed it for years.
"First you lose mama and then Baba isn't the same. Must have been so lonely... hmm?" Fillard validated as he watched his daughter begin to sob and shake as she buried her face in her hands. Fillard stood watching his little girl cry and sob not knowing what to do he thought of what Ahmali would do if she saw someone cry.
The aloof father stood up and took a step towards her wrapping her into his arms. Her small head only reached his chest and she seemed completely engolfed behind his big arms.
"Um, Ahmali, I could've... I mean, sometimes the rain neglects some parts of the Earth, you know? I hope my earth forgives me?" Fillard said as his voice cracked and shook. Ahmali looked up to see his eyes glistening more than before.
"Your earth always forgives you Baba. It just wants you to stay" she said as she cupped his face in her tiny hands. No matter what she had been through her heart was always big enough to love others unconditionally. Fillard shook his head and replied,
"No... no it's not okay. I'm supposed to be a pillar of protection but instead I've caused a scar on your heart. I out of all people should not have been your first heartbreak" Ahmali bit her underlip trying her best not to become emotional and start sobbing but seeing her father expressing his love made it really hard for her.
"I'll be better Ahmali. For you, for me, for the Sirs, for this land... but... I need you to guide me because I don't know how to be" Fillard confessed as he started looking up to the skies watching the clouds dance away from the sun.
"Baba... I know you didn't have much growing up. I know your Baba was harsh on you. I know losing mama broke your heart. But I'm proud to have you as my Baba" Ahmali said and it seemed as if the little vixen always knew exactly what to say to make anyone feel better. Fillard smiled which might have been the first time since Hidayam.
The relieved father pulled a small bottle out from his pocket and gave it to Ahmali. She turned the bottle around and sniffed it only to be met with the potent scent of nutty aroma.
"Argan oil... (Giggles) I do love my argan oil. Thank you, Baba" Ahmali said as she clung onto the bottle like a child clinging to their safe space.
"I shall not let another single flower wither in my presence" the renewed father bespoke.
The horses hoofs slashed and flashed against the muddy soil that had become soaked from the rainstorm. Balencia was behind on schedule for the sun had come up and she should have been back by now. Time has been wasted! Now I should preserve!, the neverending warrior bellowed in her mind. Through her journey she had oddly become attached to the pitch black horse and named it Manwarwa. She clung to it and stroked it as the branches of the trees basked and slapped against each other like a violent parent.
Balencia pulled Manwarwa's reins forcing her horse to a stand still as she saw tents with torches in front of them. The atmosphere changed and a tense pit tightened in Balencia's stomach causing her to clench onto it. The determined warrior took a deep breath in and when she breathed out a sigh of relief mixed with anxiety of what was yet to come.
