SA | Breaking point

+4 AP (1200+ words) | For Amber
*Not spelling checked!

Amber threw the door closed behind her, ignoring the calls of her uncle as she threw herself onto her bed with a certain display of drama only angsty teens could manage. As she buried her head in the mattress, tears she had worked so hard to contain finally slipped free, making the material become moist. Disgusted she turned herself onto her side and pulled up her knees, using her blanket to muffle her cries. She felt so incredibly humiliated. She closed her eyes, trying to forget the horses sneering at her, their grins in her mind taking on epic proportions. Gosh, she hated that stallion, hated him with a vigor. She felt angry and incredibly vulnerable at the same time, knowing she had been completely at his mercy. If he had wanted he could have beaten her, killed her even. But he hadn't and she didn't even know if she was happy for that. He hadn't even bothered because she was just a mare, nothing worth in his eyes. She wanted to scream, instead biting down on her blanket. By Kaia, she felt...she felt. She didn't have words to describe how she felt. Anger? Sadness? Fear? A little bit of everything? Failure? Yes, she felt like she lost a battle. One far greater than which she had fought. The battle against standards. The battle she had engaged in after her sister was cast out by their herd. Today she had been the prime example of how weak females were, even those that called themselves valkyries. She pulled the blanket over her head, tears streaming a little harder as she wallowed over the implications.

Urgent knocks could be heard at the door, her uncle calling once again. She didn't answer. "Amberley, are you okay?" She didn't want to deal with him right now, but he apparently took her prolonged silence as an invite to come in. She pulled her blanket closer around her as she heard her uncle walked closer. The bed dipped as he sat himself down. "Amberley." He said quietly, almost sounding concerned. She wanted to hit him for it. Of course he would enjoy this, she was finally showing a weak side. "Go away," she bit out. She didn't notice her uncles troubled eyes, mouth opening and closing as he sought for words to deal with this. "I want to know what is wrong."

She didn't react, ignoring him as he sat there in silence. She tried to stifle her tears, not wanting the male to hear. "Amber." She tensed, unused to hearing that name from his mouth. He always insisted on calling her Amberley. Amber wasn't delicate enough after all. "I'm not leaving you until you tell me what has happened." He was serious if he started by calling her that. Amber grit her teeth, angry at her predicament. She wanted to be alone, not tell what happened to her bloody uncle. But it seemed she would have no choice. She wanted him gone and if needing to tell him would fix that, she would do so. He would find out no doubt any way. At least if she told him herself, she could pretend she cared less about it than she did.

She whiped her tears as best as she could, trying to erase any trace of weakness. Then she sat up stiffly, removing the blanket from her head. She tried to avoid Thedus' eye, but still caught how his eyes widened before his expression turned thunderous. "Who did that?" he demanded, voice angry as he gestured at the cut above her eye. The skin around it had slightly bruises in the meantime as well and she did not dare look anywhere else. Luckily it was not unusual to see her with a cut or bruise left or right due to her training. Her uncle must have known today was not a training day though, considering his anger. Amber pressed her lips together stubbornly before answering, voice still a bit shaky but managing. "Some stallion in the market. Sort of." She had actually acquired it as he had pushed her of off him and she had fallen onto the ground. It seemed a small stone got the better of her. "He attacked you?"

"He ran into me and was rude about it, we got into an argument." Thedus looked both furious and weary. He pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. "I told you before, this valkyrie nonsense is far too dangerous for a-" Amber cut him off, not wanting to hear his preaching again, especially not now. "What do you even care what I do?" She threw her blanket off, standing. Thedus did the same. "So what if it's dangerous. Like you freaking care. You don't care what happens to us, you only worry about our precious clan image the old man is so driven to upkeep. Well, I have news for you," Frustrated tears were sliding down her cheeks again, but she could not care at this point, too angry and her uncle the perfect one to vent to. "I don't care about that. Clans are no longer a thing. And don't you even pretend you care about me. If we were anything to you would have kept the herd from sending Lilliana away!" She was yelling, loudly. Her uncle looked pained. Before he could reply however, the door creaked open and a much younger head peaked in. Both looked startled at the new appearance, Nathaniel looking back with big eyes. "Why are you yelling?" He asked innocently, smiling tentatively at the both of them. Amber quickly tried to cover her tears, but Nate was fast and had already seen them. His eyes widened and Thedus looked at him sternly. "Nathaniel, go play outside, this is nothing for children."

"But why is Sis crying?"

"Nathaniel, out now," their uncle commanded. The young male however shook his head with all the stubbornness of a foal, stamping his little foot on the ground. "But I wanna know what is wrong with Sis!" he demanded right back. His bravery was short lived however as their uncle walked towards him with an angry impression. "I just wanna-" he started in defence, but Thedus already had him by his collar and was setting him outside the door. Amber would have protested if she felt not so incredibly sad and angry and numb herself. Thedus scolded: "Enough. I said out now. You're too young to understand things like this. Wait until you're older." Nathaniel's lip quivered before he stomped his foot again. "Fine!" And then he was off.

Thedus closed the doors, Amber watched him wearily. She wondered what he would have to say to her little outburst. He looked at her, opening and closing his mouth. A few seconds of silence passed before he seemed to decide on what to say. His next words made her even more furious. "You are clearly too emotional right now, I cannot talk to you when you are like this. I will hear more about this later." He turned and left, closing the door behind him. Amber cursed, calling him all things ugly as she flopped back down onto the bed. Stupid, idiots, bastards. Her eyes drifted close as she found colorful descriptions of what she considered the male population. Soon enough she slipped into a deep sleep.