Post by Dream Loxley on Jul 26, 2011 9:35:51 GMT -5
*The Lady Astridur offered her thanks but declined the invitation to walk a while, perhaps another time.......Dream nodded her understanding and bid the lady well before turning and moving further along the track and away from the Castle. She pulled her shawl tighter against the cooling breeze, all the while taking each step with care and listening to the sound of the trees rustling and the birds singing. It was so very peaceful and quiet, even with the distant sound of waves crashing on the beach below. Dream was unsure......the pond or the cliffs, she had no bread to offer the ducks so perhaps the cliffs....her feet had already made that decision and she walked on, always aware of the Guards and several Rangers about the woodlands and grounds. Although she felt alone she was never truly so.
The sound of the sea got louder as she picked her way along the track, it was a steady incline, not too steep that one really noticed, until one turned to look behind. On this occasion Dream did not look back, in fact it was a gesture she had long since stopped from ever doing, simply because it was something he never did.....she smiled to herself to imagine him and that day when he had told her. Simple words, true words, for him....perhaps for her....Always look ahead.....never look back. She whispered them to herself, then stopped, standing still for several moments, breathing deeply.....in.....out.....smiling softly....then laughing to herself. "Oh my love....I shall nae turn...lest I should see ye there....oh how I wish.....but I know ye are with me....within my heart at least, and as such ye will nae ever leave me." Sighing then, she lifted her skirts and trekked up the last length of pathway until she reached the flat grassy cliff top.
It was a shock, hitting her immediately, she gasped as the wind took her breath away, gusting about her in an instant it took hold of her shawl, tugging it away. Her hands let go of her skirts to make a quick grab at it, but it was no use. Her hair was quickly freed from it's pins, allowing it to dance about her face, this way and that, almost blinding her as she watched the shawl fly away and over the cliff edge. With both hands holding her hair down, she could not help but laugh as she watched it go.....the wind seemed to return the laughter yet it stilled slightly as she stood there, skirts billowing and flapping gently. "Well now......'twas a much favoured shawl......ye may have given me warning!"
The Gulls were swooping and gliding above, the clouds soft and wispy.....the Sun bright and warm. Dream was glad of the warmth now she was without a shawl, she stayed away from the cliff edge, preferring the more sheltered area where the trees stopped and a small natural nook had been created by several fallen trees. It was pretty there, with tall grasses and wild flowers growing undisturbed. Dream sat down astride one of the tree trunks, much as she would mount a horse, settling there to watch the Gulls and listen to their cries. Her fingers searched through her hair to retrieve a few pins that had been left, she managed to pull up her hair and secure it again, although several strands had already decided against being imprisoned and hung down to frame her face.
The waves crashing below could be heard but not seen....the constant battering did not abate for one moment, it was and would be the same for a lifetime. Dream wondered then of other shorelines, in other places.....far away places she could only ever imagine. There must be shorelines, and rocks and cliffs where the land ended or began.....which ever way one saw such......she felt it was the latter.....land beginning, filled with trees and plants, people settling down, building homes and villages. She wondered more of the people, not all bad people, many just as she was yet speaking in a different tongue. What little she had learned of the World from visitors and guests offered just a small insight to what was spoken of as a vast land she could only imagine. Strange animals, peculiar people, even different coloured faces than she knew of.......so much to learn, would she ever know of such things, such life.....perhaps through tales and stories.....perhaps even through her children if they traveled away.
Dream sat a while longer......lingering in her thoughts.....imagining different places, different people......different ways of living. She picked at the bark with her fingers......would the trees be different too.....*
The sound of the sea got louder as she picked her way along the track, it was a steady incline, not too steep that one really noticed, until one turned to look behind. On this occasion Dream did not look back, in fact it was a gesture she had long since stopped from ever doing, simply because it was something he never did.....she smiled to herself to imagine him and that day when he had told her. Simple words, true words, for him....perhaps for her....Always look ahead.....never look back. She whispered them to herself, then stopped, standing still for several moments, breathing deeply.....in.....out.....smiling softly....then laughing to herself. "Oh my love....I shall nae turn...lest I should see ye there....oh how I wish.....but I know ye are with me....within my heart at least, and as such ye will nae ever leave me." Sighing then, she lifted her skirts and trekked up the last length of pathway until she reached the flat grassy cliff top.
It was a shock, hitting her immediately, she gasped as the wind took her breath away, gusting about her in an instant it took hold of her shawl, tugging it away. Her hands let go of her skirts to make a quick grab at it, but it was no use. Her hair was quickly freed from it's pins, allowing it to dance about her face, this way and that, almost blinding her as she watched the shawl fly away and over the cliff edge. With both hands holding her hair down, she could not help but laugh as she watched it go.....the wind seemed to return the laughter yet it stilled slightly as she stood there, skirts billowing and flapping gently. "Well now......'twas a much favoured shawl......ye may have given me warning!"
The Gulls were swooping and gliding above, the clouds soft and wispy.....the Sun bright and warm. Dream was glad of the warmth now she was without a shawl, she stayed away from the cliff edge, preferring the more sheltered area where the trees stopped and a small natural nook had been created by several fallen trees. It was pretty there, with tall grasses and wild flowers growing undisturbed. Dream sat down astride one of the tree trunks, much as she would mount a horse, settling there to watch the Gulls and listen to their cries. Her fingers searched through her hair to retrieve a few pins that had been left, she managed to pull up her hair and secure it again, although several strands had already decided against being imprisoned and hung down to frame her face.
The waves crashing below could be heard but not seen....the constant battering did not abate for one moment, it was and would be the same for a lifetime. Dream wondered then of other shorelines, in other places.....far away places she could only ever imagine. There must be shorelines, and rocks and cliffs where the land ended or began.....which ever way one saw such......she felt it was the latter.....land beginning, filled with trees and plants, people settling down, building homes and villages. She wondered more of the people, not all bad people, many just as she was yet speaking in a different tongue. What little she had learned of the World from visitors and guests offered just a small insight to what was spoken of as a vast land she could only imagine. Strange animals, peculiar people, even different coloured faces than she knew of.......so much to learn, would she ever know of such things, such life.....perhaps through tales and stories.....perhaps even through her children if they traveled away.
Dream sat a while longer......lingering in her thoughts.....imagining different places, different people......different ways of living. She picked at the bark with her fingers......would the trees be different too.....*