everything looks worse at night, i think i'm overthinking

[Gale]

Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you Spring had been slow to come to Islandres this year, but there is no sign of that as Gale makes his way through the colorful paradise of his homeland. He can hear the soft croak of frogs as they sing from the damp hollows of the trees, and the whir of insects as they move from one impossibly colorful flower to the next. A jewel-bright butterfly floats across the thin deer-trail that Gale follows, flapping lavender-and-blue wings before disappearing into the shadow of the trees. The wind that carried the butterfly is thick with the scent of salt, and it tugs at Gale’s white mane with sea-damp fingers. Should he head down to the beach for a swim? Or continue on this path, which he is mostly sure leads to a grapple grove? The navy blue stallion pauses, considering. He stays there for several weeks. Long enough that the lightning-that-is-his-magic was forced to act for itself, to restore his drought-dry body. The lightning flickers across his skin, slowly at first, emanating from his closed eyes. Just enough to keep his heart pumping, his lungs rising, his blood flowing. Just enough to keep him alive. But the lightning does not come alone. (If it had, perhaps Gale might have remained there - frozen for centuries in eternal indecision) With it comes the black memories of the creature that had once worn his skin, inextricably linked to the magic of the lightning that had only intended to heal him. When Gale comes back to himself he is screaming. Opening his eyes to an empty path and not the broken blue-and-black body of a child cuts the sound off in his throat, but he gasps for breath in the silent morning sunshine. Who had the girl been, and why had Mazikeen killed her? No. No, he doesn’t want to think about it. Thinking about it will mean more memories, and he can already feel the bile writhing in his stomach, can still smell the blood pouring from the girl’s slit throat and see the afterglow of Mazikeen’s orange eyes. A long bird begins to sing. After a time, others join, and the frogs take up their chorus. Gale turns and begins to walk toward the beach for a swim.