06-06-2020, 10:12 PM
Wherewolf does not know why they are so far north, but the quick teeth of his mama keep his mouth shut as they travel, trotting quickly along the northwestern ridges where he imagines the burned wreck of Leilan's kingdom sits in the midst of the grey sea. He cannot see it through the storm, through the low clouds and the wicked, wild, waves, and the fog and mist and rain that drift between him and Neverwhere and the island, yet he knows it is there, shrouded, he imagines, by Magic, by Fairies. His mother has told him repeatedly that it is simply the weather and nothing to do with any whim of the Fae, but he is sure she's wrong about that.
He is sure that she is wrong about whatever has her scouting the ridges, too (he cannot know that this is nothing more than his mother's usual wanderlust, the weather lends it an importance it does not deserve.) A cold front has moved in and despite in being summer, as the day progresses, the rain turns to wet snow that splats against the earth like seagull droppings on the bare rock, and that pierces through the warmth of his downy foal coat. Without thinking, he lifts his small wings and shakes the gathering ice away, and the jostling of his left limb makes him gasp and jerk it back tightly to his side. It doesn't hurt, but something makes him wince and lay his little ears flat into the pale, curling locks of his mane.
"Mama, where are we going? Are we going to see Leilan? Can we go see Leilan? He promised to show me the roaring boar, Alice."
Neverwhere's ears are buried as deep into her mane as it is possible for them to be, due equally to the turn of the weather and the boy's line of questioning. Really, it's a wonder that they've come so far and this is the first time he's piped up, the poor weather had kept him quiet, but she saw the way he pulled his wing back against himself, the way he hugs himself with it protectively, acting on a memory he was too young to remember, and she supposes he is trying to distract himself with something other than the strange thoughts that make him frown and twist his usually bright expression into something resembling to her own, but she is slow to reply.
The dappled colt is used to his mother's reticence when it comes to his questions - to anyone's questions - so he waits, but it is not without a certain impatience. How long will Alice be roaring? Leilan mentioned the sight to him at least two weeks ago and if they wait much longer, she's liable to be too hoarse to even oink by the time he gets there.
"Mama? When can we go?"
She stops abruptly and Woolly sucks back, suddenly aware that he is well within biting range, but she simply turns her clouded gaze on him - and not for the first time, he finds himself wondering how she sees so sharply instead of paying attention to what she is saying.
"... or I'll throw you in it!"
He manages to appear suitably admonished despite having missed her actual threat, and Neverwhere takes up her trail again as the clouds above slowly begin to break apart. Bright eyes watch longingly for a hint of the Isle through the seafog until the dark shape of his dam recedes, disappearing behind a rocky ridge. He can hear her hooves pause, grinding against rock, as she waits just out of sight for him to catch up.
Wherewolf
Image colored by Ratty
