i'm screaming out, wide awake; ANY

[Spear + Spark]

They box and spar as only two colts should; one of them is a filly.

Spark is feisty today, fiercely giving no quarter to her brother and his tricks as he taunts her endlessly. She tires of his snarky grins and merciless teasing, even though she knows he is only being a boy but he is bullying too, as he starts to come into his own, gaining brawn and bulk as she remains willowy and spry. Each envies the other: he envies her fleetness of foot on the snow, and she envies the thick roping muscle of him as each of them grows more into what they will be - stallion and mare, children of the Tundra.

Their games draw them away from her icy arms, and they find themselves falling into step abreast of one another. It makes no difference where the trail may take them, as long as they go together (one day, that is like to change as each discovers more individual aspects of their halved personalities) and their noses point towards the Field. Curiosity burns hot and bright in both of them; this is like forbidden territory - they’ve never set hoof here, never had cause to do so, even if they are children of the Tundra and it’s wayward King. Each of them bears his mark in the red of the eye on the colt’s left side of his face, and for her, the right is as red as his.

Eyes meet; exchange a look that is more knowing than anything else --

They should not be here, but why not be of use even at this tender age to the snowy realm and her subjects? Besides, they are two and together, and quite unafraid.

Spear and Spark spot the lake; can feel thirst crawl up their throats and they share another look. He takes off ahead of her, and she gives chase so that in the end, they are laughing and out of breath as they come to the lake’s edge. Spark dips her muzzle in first, and Spear follows, neither of them remarks on how cold the water is. They’ve tasted colder, usually after having to paw at a rind of ice before they can drink from any of the rivers back home. With their thirst quenched, they stand quietly by the lake and share a moment of mutual grooming. Before they know it, the sun is starting to go down and they think about going back to the Tundra before it gets too dark, not that they could never find their way back - all they had to do was point their noses to the North.

They turn to go almost as one, that much in unison, but a small sound stops them in their tracks.

If it had not been for the glint of sleepy eyes from inside the evergreens, the loud sharp crack or the question of why someone might be hiding.. They would have kept on their intended path back. Instead, they are ever curious and poke their own still-small bodies in through the evergreens and find a stallion and a mare, both as black as the night that promises to be there soon. “Oh! Is this a game?” Spear’s excitement can hardly be contained, but Spark hushes him with a touch of her nose to his shoulder. “I don’t think this is a game, brother.”

She can see that it is clearly not, but like the big black stallion and her brother, she is curious as to why the mare is so easily spooked by the typical sounds of day turning to night. Or at least, the mare looks like she could be spooked - she seems over alert, and Spark goes to her, pressing her little muzzle to the black mare’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, none of us will let anything happen to you.” Spark’s pale face beneath her black medicine cap is solemn in her oath that no harm shall befall the mare in their midst, and Spear goes to join his sister, pressing his bay overo body to the mare’s other side - they are children, they have no true sense of boundaries.

Spear & Spark