The Balinor Chronicles: The Celestial Herd
Chapter Twenty Four: The Colorless Foal
In the deep of the forest a lone Unicorn stood panting in the summer heat. Her coat, a bizarre mix of dark and pale blues, was streaked with the off-white stench of lather. Her sides, which once endowed her with grace enough to rival her mother, were now bulky and cumbersome. Barikah fell to her knees before rolling onto her side. Her foal had come.
Barikah was the beginning and in the beginning. She was the beginning in more ways then one; and she was where it had begun for the Friends, and for Izquierda and Derecho long before the Five. For although Solaris had requested none wander off after the recent disappearance of Acheates and Adonis, Barikah felt compelled to have her foal in the clearing. After her first three were miscarriages, this foal was bound to live, had to live. And Barikah still thought that perhaps this clearing, where the river was slow and broad, had the deepest of all powers, and perhaps they could save her foal. This place was, after all, the place where it all began, so it was only fitting that her foal, the one that would live, Barikah thought confidently, that her foal be dropped here, in honor of China and Spoon.
She felt the contractions ripple up her side. She whinnied in pain before she could stop herself. None must find this place, Barikah thought. None. So she lay in silence; the summer day only broken by the panting and breathing of the heavily pregnant mare. And then it was over. And Barikah knew that this one had lived.
Her heart leapt. A foal of her own. Her own. Hers and Canis's foal. She grinned and wearily climbed to her feet. What color would it be, this mix of pale and dark, of Sea and Land? What color would her Allesion filly or Kolsant colt be?
Barikah bent to lick her foal, but her breath caught in her throat. She had never seen anything like it. As far as she knew, she was the palest, except for the Mare, and even Barikah had some color to her pale blue. But the filly that lay in front of her was white. No, not white, for white would not look so out of place in this world. Why, many Unicorns had socks or blazes or were paints due to the mixing. But her foal, her living filly Allesion, was pure white, paler, if possible then the Mare. The foal that lay on the ground was colorless.
Yes, it is fitting that all begins in this clearing.