all these voices in my head get loud
i wish that i could shut them out
i'm sorry that i let you down
Anath is very young, but her position in Hyaline does not allow her room to be wholly innocent. Supposing there are any truly innocent children among these mountains. Even though she has not yet learned any reason why she should be wary here, the girl is cautious of nearly all the adults in the East. This is perhaps why she senses the black pegasus, not immediately, but before he lands in the jewel of Hyaline over which she stands.
Her thoughts have turned melancholy. Bolder swims beneath her in the cold snow-melt fed lake, but she does not notice him. With her green eyes trained on the shore she feels a sinking grip in her chest, the kind of anxiety that twists in her when she is forced to be too near one of the adult shifters. Morning sunlight warms the child’s dark back, and her little ears twitch to catch the first audible sweep of wings before the stranger lands in the nearby shallows.
Massive hooves and heavy limbs disturb the surface, and Anath must sidestep away from the ripples that roll out across the glittering surface. She will need more practice to navigate such disturbances. From above her golden cheekbones Anath’s green eyes flash up from the water and into the face of the huge pegasus. Her’s is a bold stare. That is quite interesting. States the massive stallion, she understands what he is referring to but not why he says it. Anath keeps her gift to herself around the adult shifters, they are not impressed by her light, but the stranger’s words tease out a little bit of her pride. She arches her neck, short ebony tipped mane standing straight. When he speaks again, her green eyes go from brazen to hard. Whatever curiosity she had been feeling in turn dies away. “I do not have parents.” The filly’s small voice has a steely quality, respectful but only just. “You ask strange questions for an adult. I am of no importance.” The only distinction she carries is being the playmate of a prince. She continues after a breath, “I don’t think you are supposed to be here.”
Bolder joins them, the older boy has been in the water below she now realizes. Anath frowns, not at Bolder, but at herself, and returns her gaze to the stallion. The chestnut colt does not recognize the stallion either, confirming her suspicions that he is a trespasser. In that moment she decides, in a tiny rebellion, to give the stranger what he seems to want. “He just has questions. Can you tell him where your shifting comes from?” She says kindly, looking the boy in his crescent-marked face. On the water between her four feet, the reflection of sunlight gathers, glittering.
@Cassiell @bolder