all these voices in my head get loud
i wish that i could shut them out
i'm sorry that i let you down

As she has not yet been eaten (and is unaware of how casually and frequently this is discussed) Anath continues to spend her days attempting to be something besides the least valuable member of Malik’s collection of playmates. Not every day can be spent in this pursuit, mind, this she well knows. If she fails at her entire reason for being in Hyaline in the first place someone may decide to oust her even before winter comes along. So when Malik is interested in playing with her she will play.

Today she looks for him near, but not too near, his sleeping place. Lingering in the open but as out of the way of his parents as she can be, should they pass her way. The girl whickers for her friend, because she does think him that, certain that he likes her enough to not want her to have to leave the home he brought her to. After a while, growing bored, she gazes up at a maple tree that has just dropped one of its star-shaped leaves upon her. While she still looks up into the branches a tendril of light dashes the leaf from her back and then twists around her body swiftly. Anath waits, gazing up, the intermittent breeze plucks another leaf and sends it drifting downward. The filly watches it, an ear twisting thoughtfully, and flicks it out of the air with a quick lash of sunlight. A smile creeps onto her lips, only to drop again when the sound of movement comes to her ears.