[private] i've always had too much pride

[bolder]

There are a few faces that Bolder has come to recognize in Hyaline.

There is Mazikeen, the Alpha. And to Bolder, she is an aunt as well as his mentor. Because of her, he has been allowed to grow and thrive in a way that he never would have in the North. Where he still in Taiga, he would be struggling to control the colors of his coat and if he wished to be something other than he was, it would have to be done quietly and in the shadows.

Here in Hyaline, Bolder can whoever or whatever he wishes.

He doesn't mind the cold, because he can become something that endures it better. Bolder is most often seen roaming through these woods as a striped wolf, with the gold on his pelt gleaming in the muted winter sunshine. It didn't take much to imagine a thicker coat, and for most of the freezing season, he stays warm. (Bolder still practices other shapes: an eagle so that he can observe the happenings around him, an alligator that ferociously guards a corner of the lake, a bear for when the nights are bitterly cold.

"No, I don't think so," he says, studying the other horse in equal measure, noting that he had a halo as well. He knew there were others. Others like Anath, but who was a companion to young Malik. A few other shifters that he hadn't met yet. Angels. (And there had been one in particular who had been surprised to see again: his grandmother.) "I'm Bolder." The adolescent shapeshifter introduces himself, wondering if Selaphiel had been saved and brought to Hyaline as he had been, or if someone had found him and brought him back as Malik had done.

Perhaps this was someone Uncle Gale or Aunt Mazikeen deemed powerful enough to stay.

"Do you know Ryatah?" the striped pegasus asks instead, because staring up into the pale face before Bolder made him think of another. The face of his mother, Noel, and it forces him to push down the rising guilt in his stormy chest.

@Selaphiel