i feel a bad moon rising | khalta

[Lepis]

staring at the ceiling in the dark same old empty feeling in your heart The heat of her breath is lost in the steam that ascends from the hot spring, a tiny cloud against a rising fog. There is no wind tonight, not in the low hollow where Lepis rests, and she follows the spirals of steam as they climb higher toward the starry sky. The moon is little more than a sliver, and the dun mare finds herself tracing the constellations overhead. She has never slept well, or for long, and while much has changed in the last few weeks, she knows that some things never will. There is much to do when dawn breaks, but that is hours away still. Can Oceane see these same stars from Pangea, Lepis wonders? Soon she will be able to ask, the new queen reassures herself, soon she will not have to wonder. She will fix all that is broken, if only time would humor her and bring dawn just a little faster. She sighs, and scuffs one hoof against the red stone at the lip of the spring. A few paces away the winter snow is several inches thick, a white blanket that covers the red kingdom. Winter means resting near the hot springs, where the heat is enough to make one lament their heavy coat. Lepis does so now, and accepts that sleep is not coming. With a shake of her head, she moves away from the spring, shivering as her feet tramp through the snow. There is nowhere specific she means to go, but wandering Loess at night is not an unfamiliar task for the pegasus mare. She moves west, winding through the hills and valleys, her steps careful and sure, even with the blanket of snow. Halfway between her spring and the border of Sylva, she pauses. Her blue-tipped ears flicker, for she is certain she had heard the sound of hooves. “Hello?” she calls out. “Is anyone there?” @[Khalta] LEPIS staring at the bottom of your glass-- hoping one day you’ll make a dream last but dreams come slow and they go so fast