drink up baby, look at the stars; any

[spindlewinter]

come on in, we haven't slept for weeks;
drink some of this, it'll put colour in your cheeks

What she can’t get over – what she cannot imagine, in her youth and inexperience, will ever fade – is the excitement, the newness, the freshness of Beqanna. And to cap that, it certainly seems the residents of her new home are as intrigued by its features, its layout and geography as she is. They flex their wings (their wings - horses do not have wings where she has come from, and whilst her mother mentioned them, she stopped believing as she grew older) and talk in hushed tones of mountains and magic – she has surely come to a land of great mystery.

(Of course, being a stranger, Winter remains ignorant of the tumult, the mists, the upheaval – she does not realise that even the longest resident of Beqanna is today as new as she is. She can only assume they are a curious, excitable race – and why wouldn’t they be, in a land with such curious habits, such capricious spirits and unusual horses?)

See this red stallion here, the one she is watching from the corner of her eye as she grazes. He’s smiling as he walks along, for no reason she can easily come up with. Before she met the filly with wings she might have thought it because he was blessed by some great spirit to carry the feathers across his shoulders, but she has learned that such things are commonplace here. Common or not she cannot help but keep up her one-eyed vigil, observing how he carries the wings, how they move as he does. So recently she would have thought he had stepped out of myth or legend, not walked across the same meadow as she did.

And still he is smiling, so she resolves to speak to him; what is the point in coming to a new place if just to eat and sleep the same as she did at home? He is not far away, and she picks up a gentle walk towards him. Nerves, as always, flutter – but she tells them this is what she must do. Her voice betrays her – ”Um,” - but she tries harder. “Hello. I – I’m new to Beqanna. Have you lived here a long time?” Perhaps he will help her to understand this strange and changeable place.

Spindlewinter