Circinae
If I had any inclination of what a gathering we’d stir up by coming here, I might have thought twice about our little ‘vacation’ to Taiga. I wasn’t really cut out for the social life, never had been. Things were different when you lived in a sea of sand and your best friends were your parents. It made you hard enough to build a castle around yourself, one where the walls were so high only loneliness remained inside - a great longing to ’belong’ matched with a fear of others so violent you could never hope to scale the monstrosity you built. And that’s where I was when they arrived, trying to wedge my foot into a crack so that I could be closer to Raeanne. “Not technically.” I tell her, but I know it won’t be long until someone does arrive.
They manifest so quickly after I fall silent that I’m afraid I’ve conjured them up from my subconscious. From the shade of the great trees a black figure makes his approach, stopping only to flex his wings and introduce himself. A smaller creature takes cover underneath one of the extra appendages, but it’s only a blur of inky pelt so I can’t be sure what it exactly is. “That depends.” I tell him, smiling softly before positioning myself besides Raeanne, letting my verdant nose tap her lightly upon the cheek. We were together, and that’s the way it would stay. I don’t get to finish though because we’re caught up with a few more additions in almost rapid-fire fashion. First is Romek, glowing from tip to tail in a way that fascinates me even more than his polite countenance. I can’t bring myself to look away from him, even when a curious little mahogany mare begins to circle around us.
I laugh softly at her antics, but my ears dip, cautious as ever. We’re easily outnumbered now, with only our backs to the nearby water as a means of retreat. “I’m Circinae, formerly a product of the Deserts, now a wanderer with my … well, this is Raeanne.” I summarize, not wanting to label the girl with anything she’d hate. I don’t know her well enough to claim her as my own, but I won’t leave her out. My gaze turns to the almost-black mare who enters last, silent enough to raise a red flag in my mind. She was untrusting of us. Best to keep my eye on her. “We’re sightseeing, that’s all. No reason to sound the alarms.”
The Wolf of Water