May sneaks away the first chance she gets.
It’s not that she is particularly adventurous, or disobedient. Momma naps more and more nowadays, and daddy has a funny look of concern on his face that has nothing to do with the family and everything to do with his wolf. She understands that this is a a sad tense time and that is the catalyst that sparks her peculiar brand of mischief.
The myriad steps she takes are hushed by grass, as she tiptoes away from her family and the familiar space occupied by them in the sultry heart of Tephra. Those same steps raise to a clatter on the volcanic shale and sand of the blackened beach, as she comes sliding to a halt before the churning sea. May throws her head up, eyes flashing and snorting just a bit as the tide confounds her.
She’ll have to wait until it turns, then she can run across the tidal flats to make the mainland well before dark. That prospect alone sends a thrill of excitement coursing through her slim frame; she’s never gotten to go to the mainland. Not yet! Always told she’s too little and the muck too thick.
But now! Now she waits as the sea begins to pull away from the shore with a sucking sound of leave. It almost sounds like it is saying farewell but promises to come rushing back in a matter of hours, and moon-pulls that are beyond her understanding. Her small head bobs happily in anticipation, the singular spikes atop it a far cry from the impressive palmate antlers they will one day be.
When she can no longer see a wave upon the exposed seabed, she knows that is the opportune moment to go! The sabino girl gives a kick and launches herself across the mudflats in a flat gallop. She gains the sandy lip of the mainland in no time at all and expels her breath in a triumphant snort. “I did it!” she shouts to herself, before settling into a comfortable slow amble so that she can feast on all the sights she’s never seen.
May’s adventurous spirit runs low the moment she enters the riverland. She blames it on being tired at long last and being so far from her family, but refuses to turn tail just then and head home. Instead, the girl settles for kicking rocks into the river with her feet.
my brothers, darling;
I love the company of wolves
@[day] @[Leah] ❤️