Pegasus quietly approached Kanthaka’s bedside and lay on the floor next to her.
He didn’t know whether or not to awake her, so he just waited patiently for her to wake up.
Sudden coughs led to crying, and then a shriek from Kanthaka when she realized that she was not alone.
“Who are you? Why are you here?” she squealed.
“I’m Pegasus. I’ve come to help you, Kanthaka.”
“I’m fine. I just want to be alone,” she replied.
“I refuse. Here, come with me. You need to get out and breathe some fresh air, and let your mane fly in the wind,” Pegasus immediately stated.
Kanthaka glanced at Pegasus, and then fell into a deep trance while gazing into his eyes. He reached out, placing his hoof upon her hoof. He pulled her up out of the bed, and silence filled the room. It was as if sparks had been flying through their immediate connection, and neither of them knew what to say next. She stood there as still as could be, and Pegasus urged her to come along, breaking the silence. Finally, she gave in. She followed him down the stairs, out the door, and towards the gate. As they approached the gate, Kanthaka got really anxious.
“I’m not allowed outside of these gates now, Pegasus.”
“Just trust me. I will take care of you,” Pegasus said.
Nervously, Kanthaka followed close behind through the gates. In that moment, she took the largest step in a relationship, to trust Pegasus.
***
“Why are you so sad, Kanthaka?” stated an interested Pegasus.
“Siddhartha left me. His father had sentenced him to remain inside the palace gates for the rest of his life to stray him from becoming an ascetic due to suffering in the real world. His curiosity grew, and I was able to break him and Channa out of the gates to explore life. This venture out brought forth contact with the suffering of life. This is where we all discovered the four sights. We found an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and an ascetic. This explained the consequences that aging had, suffering from disease and pain, inevitable death, and the hope that an ascetic had to find what the cause of all this human suffering was from. This immediately had a spiritual effect on Siddhartha, and he was bound and determined to become an ascetic from that moment. We returned to the palace, and the next day Siddhartha begged me to break him free in a promise to live an ascetic life. I agreed, broke him out of the palace, and then came back to return the supplies that Siddhartha had taken with him in case of trouble in life outside the palace. Channa then decided that he wasn’t going to lose me, and that I was not allowed out.”
“Oh Kanthaka, I’m so sorry. You have me now, and I promise that I will take good care of you. We can find Siddhartha now that you’re free.”
Her eyes lit up as big as the Texas skies, and she immediately felt some sort of hope. Her pain and grief was gone, for she knew that she was going to find Siddhartha.
***
As they roamed the Earth, the two formed a bond like none other. Pegasus told Kanthaka about his life, and Kanthaka shared everything about hers in return. The days together seemed like seconds. Time just flew. Before they knew it, they were in the land where Siddhartha and Kanthaka parted.
Kanthaka was worried, for they looked high and low, far and wide, and couldn’t find Siddhartha.
“Do you think he’s okay?” she asked.
“I know he’s okay, and we will find him. My family, the Doubtfires, told me never to give up, and they have not been wrong yet.”
“Okay……” she replied, in a doubtful manner.
***
They continued on the journey, roaming to places that they had never seen before.
“PEGASUS! Do you see that? What is that flying in the air?”
Pegasus squinted his eyes, and was immediately concerned that there was a white horse flying through the air that appeared to have a horn upon his head.
“Well, it looks like a horse, but there’s a horn on the head,” Pegasus said, as he thought that couldn’t be right.
Sure enough, this mystical creature landed right beside the pair, and stated, “Hello! You have reached the land of Persia. Come along!”
Pegasus and Kanthaka gazed into each other’s eyes, wondering what to do, and trying to determine if this was actually happening, or if it was another dream.
Shocked by their reaction, the Unicorn whinnied, looked through the thick swarm of dust he had created from the landing, and awaited a reply...
Author's Note:
I based this story off of the last story. Pegasus was able to free Kanthaka of her pain and grief through spreading hope that the Doubtfires had instilled in him from Day One. I wanted Kanthaka and Pegasus to grow a strong bond in this story to set up the next story. I also wanted to include the original cultural text from Siddhartha on his ascetic journey. In the original story, Kanthaka is actually the reason that Siddhartha and Channa even escaped the palace and observed four sights. The four sights included an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and an ascetic. The descriptions that Kanthaka gives Pegasus about the findings at the four sights is the same as in the original story. This finding and observance of suffering eventually led Siddhartha to enlightenment, and Kanthaka being left without Siddhartha. As I explained in the previous story, Kanthaka actually dies of a broken heart in the original, but I wanted Kanthaka to have a hope of reuniting with Siddhartha. I then bring in the Unicorn for the next story, leaving the readers curious as to what role the unicorn will play in the story, and how the Unicorn will become a part of the journey.
Bibliography:
Header Image: Gorgeous picture of a unicorn accessed online from maxpixel here.
Unicorn information accessed on Wikipedia here.
The Four Sights Information on Wikipedia here.