[private] i'm sorry that i let you down

[Anath]

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

The stranger was gone, flown back into the sky and leaving Anath down on the lake. She thinks about the things he said more often than she should. The filly wonders if they were true things or if the estimation of her value as given by most of the residents of Hyaline is factual. There is so much to confuse her here, and the black pegasus has only added to it. Sometimes, when she can safely daydream, Anath imagines him coming back here and taking her away to an even better place than Hyaline. Each childish fantasy ends about there, as she cannot or does not dare to imagine what waits beyond these mountains.

Anath cannot make the sunlight coalesce upon the lake anymore. Winter has frozen the lake. She lingers on the edge of it, where the water would have been shallow. Small hooves slip and shift as she tries to square her stance on the solid surface of the lake. Earlier some of the young shifters had played upon it, but Anath was left behind unable to move across the ice as quickly as they could in other forms. She does not mind. The filly almost always plays with them because she has to, not because she wants to. Mostly the others are nice, but not always.  Children are usually kinder than adults but as they age so do their opinions. Anath is increasingly aware of how inferior she is to those that can change their shape. Her time here is dwindling as is her hope of proving herself worthy.

It’s a dull day, overcast. Her powers are weak.  Anath’s gold and black body stands out against snow and ice. The muscles beneath the girl’s thick winter hide quiver and jump as she tries to stand on the ice without....Slipping. Losing her footing completely, Anath goes down hard onto the solid ice, one hind leg beneath her, a foreleg tucked into her chest and the other two splayed awkwardly on the ice. Green gold eyes, wide with surprise take stock of her predicament, and then flash up, mortified, to see just who might have seen it happen.

anath

let you down

@bolder

[bolder]

Bolder can't imagine a better place than Hyaline.

It was here that had begun to truly understand himself. He was allowed a freedom here that he hadn't been given in the North. Where they had frowned at his ability to change coat colors and would have curled their lips at his changing shape, he was praised in Hyaline. Both Gale and Mazikeen had taken the time to help him become more powerful, and as his shapeshifting grew stronger, Bolder knew that eventually he would travel to the Mountain.

He would be like his revered Uncle and become Powerful.

He would finally be able to show his father that there was no danger in shapeshifting.

The adolescent shifter had been an eagle resting on a branch, peering across the wintry landscape. Something with more fur would have been preferable to keep out the chill, but Bolder had wanted to practice flying against the bitter wind. There was a precision in this shape that he couldn't find in any other and he had spent most of his day soaring in preparation to ascent the Mountain. The gold edging of his wings catches even in the muted light and as he moves head away from it, Bolder glimpses Anath struggling against the snow and the ice.

Malik should take better care of his companion, he thought darkly. Sickle had always seemed so careful of Oceanus.

Soaring down towards her, he traded his feathers for fur and came to stand beside her as a pegasus. Bolder stopped and snorted, sending his breath billowing out in plumes of silver smoke. His hooves slipped slightly on the ice but the yearling grunted and drove them deeper, extending an auburn wing to push Anath up.

@Anath