The darkness seems to reach for him. The shadows of the forest seemingly alive as his anxiety begins to increase and for a moment their pulsing matches the beating of his heart. The silence that surrounded him is nothing more than a monster in itself and it thickens, causing the blood to pulse within his ears. For a moment it is nothing but him and the gift that is trying to awaken within him in the forest.
Then it happens. A scream and the a burst of adrenaline breaks him free from deafening pounding within him and without a second thought he is rushing towards the sound rather than away from it. "Hello?," his voice carries through the silence that follows and before he knows it carl is ambling beside him in all his rounded glory, the sound of small snorts of excitement keeping pace with every step. "We should be careful, what if somethings eating them?" Carl's squeaky voice travels up from next to Picard. "I don't want to be eaten," Carl whispers.
Though Picard doesn't respond. Instead he finds himself pushing forward, searching for the one that screamed. It's only when he makes his way around a large ancient elm tree that he comes face to face with a mare that is spotted just like him and for a moment he is confused. Coming to a stop he stares at her, watching as he tries to understand what could have possibly made her scream.
Then he realizes. She's looking up. Hesitatingly slow the golden spotted colt looks towards the sky and suddenly he comes to the realization that nothing is quite normal about this night. The stars and the moon are very much alive. "What the," Picard exclaims and for a moment his breath catches in his throat as his eyes widen in surprise. "They're alive!" The exclamation escapes between his lips as stares into the darkening face of the moon.
Something deep within him stirs as he stares frozen at the sky. "How..." It's more of a statement than a question. He can't comprehend, not yet. His mother had hidden him from the world for far too long for him to know that there was more magic then he could ever imagine within the lands of Beqanna. Though with every passing moment he feels a growing pull towards the moon and the stars despite their dangerous natures. It's only then that he remembers Carl and with a quick look towards the ground he realizes the creature has fainted, his rounded body laying upside down with it's tiny limbs in the air. "Coward," he whispers, not all too convinced that he wasn't one himself.
PICARD
"the road from legitimate suspicion to rampant
paranoia is very much shorter than we think."