03-07-2022, 08:19 PM
Areane had been so focused on getting the vibrant, red leaves out her dark, shimmering wings that she hadn’t bothered to look up. She should; the young pegasus was the daughter of two horses who knew that their world could be unkind. Better to keep your guard up rather than down, and more importantly, always be aware of your surroundings.
She knows those things, but she also knows that she wants the evidence of her less-than-graceful landing out of her feathers. The year she had spent grounded - after the Sinking of Loess - had taken its price on the young pegasus. Her first outing had been the day that her home sank, and while she knows that she is more fortunate than most (she had been reunited with her family within hours), it had taken Areane a great deal of time to get comfortable with the idea of leaving again.
Eventually, she had. And now there was lost time to make up, experiences to be gained, and the young mare was eager for all of them. Areane just didn’t want to look like the fledgling she was; nearing her third year, she wanted the world to look at her as she gazed upon it. An adventure just beginning, instead of appearing as if she lacked the readiness for it.
But of all the things she might have been prepared for, an approaching bear is not one of them.
A paw tangles itself in her mane (and Areane tries her best to remember everything her parents had taught her) and while instinct tells her to pull away, there is something about the black-and-white creature that strikes her as odd. It’s the eyes, she realizes, eyes that look more downturned than any other animal she’s seen. Was this someone’s bonded? Her amethyst eyes study it’s amber ones, wondering if there was a way to communicate with a companion that wasn’t her own.
And in the end, all that awareness does nothing for her, because the bear becomes a boy.
"You are -,” Tarian’s daughter starts before abruptly stopping, because she was about to imply that he was not a bear. He was a shifter, she realized. The first she had ever encountered. "You’re not a bear, but you just were.” Areane marvels, looking incredulously at the young stallion that had just clawed a leaf from her windswept mane.
"By the Winds", she blows out through her flaring nostrils and then peers curiously up at him, thrilled with this recent discovery, "that's incredible."
She knows those things, but she also knows that she wants the evidence of her less-than-graceful landing out of her feathers. The year she had spent grounded - after the Sinking of Loess - had taken its price on the young pegasus. Her first outing had been the day that her home sank, and while she knows that she is more fortunate than most (she had been reunited with her family within hours), it had taken Areane a great deal of time to get comfortable with the idea of leaving again.
Eventually, she had. And now there was lost time to make up, experiences to be gained, and the young mare was eager for all of them. Areane just didn’t want to look like the fledgling she was; nearing her third year, she wanted the world to look at her as she gazed upon it. An adventure just beginning, instead of appearing as if she lacked the readiness for it.
But of all the things she might have been prepared for, an approaching bear is not one of them.
A paw tangles itself in her mane (and Areane tries her best to remember everything her parents had taught her) and while instinct tells her to pull away, there is something about the black-and-white creature that strikes her as odd. It’s the eyes, she realizes, eyes that look more downturned than any other animal she’s seen. Was this someone’s bonded? Her amethyst eyes study it’s amber ones, wondering if there was a way to communicate with a companion that wasn’t her own.
And in the end, all that awareness does nothing for her, because the bear becomes a boy.
"You are -,” Tarian’s daughter starts before abruptly stopping, because she was about to imply that he was not a bear. He was a shifter, she realized. The first she had ever encountered. "You’re not a bear, but you just were.” Areane marvels, looking incredulously at the young stallion that had just clawed a leaf from her windswept mane.
"By the Winds", she blows out through her flaring nostrils and then peers curiously up at him, thrilled with this recent discovery, "that's incredible."