The moon is only a thin sliver in the sky, mostly obscured by the thin filaments of clouds carried along by the spring wind.
Spring in Hyaline is much like winter, Malik has found. The snow falls less frequently, but it still reaches his fetlocks as he wades through. The wind no longer bites with frozen teeth, but it still nibbles along his black hide and ruffles the short strands of his dark mane. But spring does mean he can wander alone now, even if he must not go far from the cave where he has spent all of his life.
All of his life he remembers, anyway.
His father’s magic has taken away more than his age; it has taken his memories too. His life in Tephra, his sister, his mother - all of it is gone. He is only Malik now, Shifter, Prince of Hyaline, son of the Alpha and her King.
He falls on his face into the cold snow, having misjudged the depth.
For a while he lays there, sighing at his own misfortune, and when he stands up it is as a young tiger with his same glowing skin. He shakes the snow from his face and blinks it out of his blue-and-orange eyes, and in a rare cloudless moment, the thin moon reflects clearly on the distant lake below.
He’s not to go to the Lake, he knows.
So when he picks his way down the snow-and-rock-laden trail toward it, he does so with frequent glances back over his shoulder for either of his watchful parents. They’re hunting, he reminds himself, they’ll be gone for hours still. They’ll come back with something for him, too, if only he is back snug in the nest by the time they return.
@any foal(s)
Spring in Hyaline is much like winter, Malik has found. The snow falls less frequently, but it still reaches his fetlocks as he wades through. The wind no longer bites with frozen teeth, but it still nibbles along his black hide and ruffles the short strands of his dark mane. But spring does mean he can wander alone now, even if he must not go far from the cave where he has spent all of his life.
All of his life he remembers, anyway.
His father’s magic has taken away more than his age; it has taken his memories too. His life in Tephra, his sister, his mother - all of it is gone. He is only Malik now, Shifter, Prince of Hyaline, son of the Alpha and her King.
He falls on his face into the cold snow, having misjudged the depth.
For a while he lays there, sighing at his own misfortune, and when he stands up it is as a young tiger with his same glowing skin. He shakes the snow from his face and blinks it out of his blue-and-orange eyes, and in a rare cloudless moment, the thin moon reflects clearly on the distant lake below.
He’s not to go to the Lake, he knows.
So when he picks his way down the snow-and-rock-laden trail toward it, he does so with frequent glances back over his shoulder for either of his watchful parents. They’re hunting, he reminds himself, they’ll be gone for hours still. They’ll come back with something for him, too, if only he is back snug in the nest by the time they return.
@any foal(s)