09-07-2018, 09:28 PM
Far to the east, the horizon begins to lighten. It is the faintest of changes, a bit of charcoal against the black, but as I blink my stormcloud eyes, I see it. A bit of steam obscures it for a moment, but I take a step forward in the knee deep water of the hot spring and once more have an unobstructed view of the eastern edge of the kingdom.
I am standing in my favorite pool, and the length of my wings are held just loose enough that the tips of their longest feathers barely brush the water. I know from experience that it is not the best to drink, but the combination of salt, fresh water, and geothermal heat have made the pool around me a veritable menagerie of life even in the dead of winter. At my feet swim silvery fish, and the quick flick of a lizards tail disappearing into the grass follows the loud chirrup of a cricket.
It is not often that I find myself in the company of another at this hour. Before Hyaline, I’d have been beside Delta or Arthas - often both. Now though, my son is grown and my husband is King of Sylva. I should be there, some part of me knows, steadfast behind the dapple grey stallion. But I linger in Loess still, inexplicably torn between the two.
Yet despite the late hour - perhaps early hour now, I realize, I recognize the sound of hooves. Pulling in my wings more tightly against my sides, I glance in the direction of the sound, my blue ears flicking curiosity as I try to pick out a shape in the darkness.
I am standing in my favorite pool, and the length of my wings are held just loose enough that the tips of their longest feathers barely brush the water. I know from experience that it is not the best to drink, but the combination of salt, fresh water, and geothermal heat have made the pool around me a veritable menagerie of life even in the dead of winter. At my feet swim silvery fish, and the quick flick of a lizards tail disappearing into the grass follows the loud chirrup of a cricket.
It is not often that I find myself in the company of another at this hour. Before Hyaline, I’d have been beside Delta or Arthas - often both. Now though, my son is grown and my husband is King of Sylva. I should be there, some part of me knows, steadfast behind the dapple grey stallion. But I linger in Loess still, inexplicably torn between the two.
Yet despite the late hour - perhaps early hour now, I realize, I recognize the sound of hooves. Pulling in my wings more tightly against my sides, I glance in the direction of the sound, my blue ears flicking curiosity as I try to pick out a shape in the darkness.
