Let go, and be { Mast & Anyone }

[Anahera]

 
Winter nights could be so calming. The moon casting silvery light onto the glittering powder that lie over the slumbering ground below. Every slight breeze that lightly ruffled the dark, rich smelling pine boughs sent sparkling wisps swirling through the night air. She is cold, alone, yet content. The quiet and beauty of this full moon night keeping her mind off how she is slowly becoming colder as she trudges on. Her large speckled wings folded tightly around her very pregnant spotted belly were the only things keeping her, and the bundle of joy, warm. Long, elegant spotted legs propelled the large bellied mare forward, tendrils of her every exhausted breath rolled out of her nostrils and into the air with every step.

It is not long before she comes to what she believes is the boarder of the Gates kingdom. She had never been here before, though she remembers hearing about it in her days in the Jungle from her elder sister, Freiyehl. Though that was years ago, many years ago. The spotted maiden slows to a halt, choosing a large pine that blocked the nipping breezes to shelter her. Her mottled nostils flair, taking in the scents of this new place. Pleasant, for sure. She was at its borders, yet she could feel no anxiety. She wonders if this is where she was meant to be. For years she spent bouncing from place to place, though none felt like "home". But at her age, though seven isn't that old, she felt as if it were time to stop being a nomad and find a stable home. Especially now that she has a little one on the way. As she waits for someone to find her here, she turns her head and lifts her wing slightly, slipping her muzzle in the small opening between wing and belly. She whispers quietly, mumbling sweet nothings. She could not wait to meet her child and show it the best foalhood a foal could have...

anahera

watch every day become a dream

[Becca]

The Golden Princess

I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale, I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet, Lead her up the stairwell This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town, I was a dreamer before you went and let me down, Now it's too late for you and your white horse to come around

The dark chocolate damsel, circled through the chilled forest. She welcomed winter as hard as it came every year but this year the change was light and frail upon the edges of the mother tree which had magnificently recovered. It was gracefully coated in a white pigment, arranged with icicles entwined with frost upon the branches gently singing in the howling wind. The bark was layered with frost, and piles of snow upon it's roots spanning around the tree. Lifting her darkened muzzle dripping from the cold, Becca gently pressed her swollen barrel against the tree, it seemed to make her barrel feel warm to the touch as she quickly made contact, with the damp bark.

Burgundy lobes swiveled to the sounds of hoof steps shuffling within the snow. Her elite hearing allowed her to search out that individual. It wasn't exactly a mythic ability it was more an adaptation she developed as a young foal due to having to be alert at all times because her parents didn't show too much protection for her. Finding the individual she found a winged mare, belly swollen quite like her own she slowly strode towards the mare, cautiously she intaked her surroundings.

With a soft voice she spoke a greeting, " Hello, I'm Becca and welcome to Heavens Gates." she paused tossing her golden forelock gleaming against the whitened terrain below.  "May I ask your name?" she questioned politely. Her golden tail lashed out out the cold whisping at her hind quarters, and along her hocks. " What has brought you to the Gates?" she questioned once again. She could continue to ask questions all day but, that would be a complete waste.

becca

image © nathan walker

[magnus]

you and I both know that the house is haunted
and you and I both know that the ghost is me

Flying in the winter air was noticeably different than flying during the summer. His muscles ached with the cold and his nostrils flared to drink in the clear air, but it was exhilarating to say the least. Magnus had never thought he would appreciate traits—he much preferred to trust in his own naturally-given strength—but he had learned to love the convenience of his eagle wings. If only because it made him that much more successful at patrolling the borders. It was easier to spot anyone coming from the air.

So it did not take him long to see the winged mare, clearly with child, coming to the Gates—nor did it take him long to see Becca on her way to greet her. The mare was becoming quite the asset to the kingdom; he wondered if she would soon join their peace caste. She clearly was gifted at diplomacy. Altering his flight, he swept toward the ground and landed in the frost near the two of them. Tucking his wings into his sides, grateful for the added warmth, he smiled as he walked the final feet toward the pair.

“Hello,” he greeted with a scarred smile, nodding his golden head toward Becca and then the newcomer. “My name is Magnus.” His ears twisted to listen to Becca’s line of questioning and his gold-flecked eyes warmed with pleasure and approval before he motioned toward the heart of the kingdom. “Perhaps you would like to come in further to the kingdom? It is warmer where the trees can shield from the wind.”

MAGNUS

once general. once lord. once king.