02. I Pray
However, one day some two hundred fifty years later, a mare known as Marigold, lay resting silently beside the river one autumn. She was due to be a new mother the following summer.
After admiring her trance from a distance, her husband Solaris approached, breaking her silence. “I’m beginning to think you’re in love with that river more than me.”
Marigold spoke but did not turn her head. “The river, it’s low.”
“Low?” he knelt beside her. “How can you be sure?”
“I knew it long before I saw it.” Marigold spoke with a sense of cautious relief. “I came here only to confirm my suspicions. I fear what is happening outside the canyon may have dire consequences.”
“The world is shaking.” His voice grew more grim. “I refuse to let our child serve as some tyrant’s soldier.”
“What will you do?” Marigold finally turned to face Solaris, only to find his head facing down at his hooves.
“At nightfall, I’ll set out to find an escape. We cannot let the Elders know of our plans or they will accuse us of going against the peace.” He stood straight up and looked at Marigold in her bright blue eyes. “I promise you, we will once again run wild.”
And so that night, he set off with his two most trusted friends. Marigold waited by the river, watching it sink lower with each passing day. Seasons passed, with no sign of her husband nor his friends.
Finally, on the night of the Summer Solstice, Marigold was awakened from a deep sleep by his two friends. They recounted how they were ambushed by the humans, and in their attempt to escape, her husband had been killed.
Broken by this news, Marigold gave birth the following day. In her sadness, the boy was born, Blue.
The boy looked nothing like her parents, who were colored chestnut and wheat. Instead, his coat shined a deep corn flower blue in the afternoon. His mane, reminiscent of midnight. His eyes were bright orange, as if reflecting the summer sun in the sky.
Marigold stared at her son in disbelief, for the Herd of Elders spoke of a prophecy that a foal would be birthed Blue and bring about the end of the Mostrenco. She held Blue close, for she knew he would be taken soon.
The Herd of Elders had a designated “Wrangler” that roamed the Canyon to collect the first born foals. When the Wrangler finally came to bring Blue in for sacrifice, Marigold resisted with her voice, but Blue fought back with his hooves. Blue bucked the Wrangler straight in the face. It wasn’t enough.
The Wrangler brought both Marigold and Blue back to the Herd of Elders. His face was bloodied from Blue’s rebellion. The Herd of Elders suspicions of the prophecy had been confirmed. They forced Marigold to live in exile and under careful watch. Blue was led by the Wrangler through the mountain pass and out of the canyon.
I Pray
How does the sun shine
On such a frozen day
Try as she might
To warm the frost away
You look at me wide eyed
Tangerine starlight
Cloudy midnight
I hold you tight
And pray
That someone someday
I pray
Can see you as i do
I pray
Beautiful in blue
I pray
Why can’t it be that
Only love alone
Could be strong enough
To keep you home?
I’ll wait for you down stream
This wild river
Taker and giver
You’ll be with her
I pray
That someone someday
I pray
Can see you as i do
I pray
Beautiful in blue
I pray
Won’t someone someday
I pray
See you as i do
I pray
Beautiful in blue
I pray