Daylight came earlier than usual, flooding Eyas with warmth and reminding her that summer was molting into fall. It also reminded her that nearly ten months had passed since she’d been on her own, and when the new winter came around it would make a solid year since Eyas had last seen Taiga. Now she stood in the Forest, blinking into the early sunlight, happy to see a new sun rise. It meant she’d made it another twelve hours without sleeping, which would make... twenty-four consecutive hours since she’d last had a vision.
To some, twenty-four hours without their magic might’ve been unendurable anguish. For Eyas it meant a brief moments respite. No sudden changes, no violent scenes of someone else’s past life, just one day fading into the next. She breathed a hard, gusty sigh and stretched her sore wings out from where they’d been folded through the chilly night. Where would she go from here? The bare months were on the way, and her coat was matted in heavy clumps - disguising thin ribs and bony hips.
I really should scavenge... the slender mare considered, especially if she wanted to continue evading Taiga and her parents. Her faded brown-and-black legs shifted, disturbing the already dry leaves underhoof with a faint crackling sound. If it was food she wanted, she couldn’t stay here in a small clearing, hiding out underneath the bent limbs of an ancient magnolia tree. She would have to leave the safety of these woods and head for greener pastures, literally.
At the first step, anxiety hit her.
What if I fall asleep, the insecure parts of her started showing their faces, or what if I see something while I’m trying to walk?
She remembered her earlier tumble into the river a few weeks ago and realized that event could’ve played out much, much worse. Eyas paused, completely still and exposed in the light beaming through so many brown trunks, feeling her heart drop through her chest and onto the ground when a sensation of being followed itched the back of her skull. Doe-like, her head twisted at the cheek while on either side of her forelock two black-tinted ears searched the woods.
You could look for them, She thought temptingly, just open your third eye and prod for someone’s vision. You did it with Lethy…
“NO.” Eyas answered her own thoughts loudly, disturbing the quiet peace. A few birds squawked indignantly at her and took flight, rustling to cover up the pegasus mare’s deep swallow. Stupid, stupid idiot…
She sighed.
@Bruja
To some, twenty-four hours without their magic might’ve been unendurable anguish. For Eyas it meant a brief moments respite. No sudden changes, no violent scenes of someone else’s past life, just one day fading into the next. She breathed a hard, gusty sigh and stretched her sore wings out from where they’d been folded through the chilly night. Where would she go from here? The bare months were on the way, and her coat was matted in heavy clumps - disguising thin ribs and bony hips.
I really should scavenge... the slender mare considered, especially if she wanted to continue evading Taiga and her parents. Her faded brown-and-black legs shifted, disturbing the already dry leaves underhoof with a faint crackling sound. If it was food she wanted, she couldn’t stay here in a small clearing, hiding out underneath the bent limbs of an ancient magnolia tree. She would have to leave the safety of these woods and head for greener pastures, literally.
At the first step, anxiety hit her.
What if I fall asleep, the insecure parts of her started showing their faces, or what if I see something while I’m trying to walk?
She remembered her earlier tumble into the river a few weeks ago and realized that event could’ve played out much, much worse. Eyas paused, completely still and exposed in the light beaming through so many brown trunks, feeling her heart drop through her chest and onto the ground when a sensation of being followed itched the back of her skull. Doe-like, her head twisted at the cheek while on either side of her forelock two black-tinted ears searched the woods.
You could look for them, She thought temptingly, just open your third eye and prod for someone’s vision. You did it with Lethy…
“NO.” Eyas answered her own thoughts loudly, disturbing the quiet peace. A few birds squawked indignantly at her and took flight, rustling to cover up the pegasus mare’s deep swallow. Stupid, stupid idiot…
She sighed.
@Bruja