“Fucking hell.”
The chestnut mare stalks along Tephra’s southern border, mind churning over her sister’s latest visit. Lumi had moved out of Tephra weeks ago, but while she’d stopped by to visit their mother, Taiga hadn’t actually seen her until this morning. And oh how her sister has changed.
The most obvious change perhaps, is the change to her sister’s hair. The previously chestnut locks of her sisters mane and tail have been changed to a strange, iridescent black. Apparently from a run in with a faerie. The less obvious change, but perhaps the more important, is the shapeshifting. That her sister had apparently received after making a deal with a magician. A remarkably simple deal at that.
And Taiga is jealous.
Taiga had always been the more ‘gifted’ of the older girls. That is, she’d always had one advantage over her older sister. First it had been her snowman shifting (as useless as it had been, it had at least been something), and then later her wings. And Lumi, despite being older (and, though she is loathe to admit it, slightly prettier) had had nothing. Nothing to make her special.
But now she has stoat shifting. A rather random ability in Taiga’s mind, but a terribly useful one. Lumi can use her new ability to explore and investigate, to even hide in plain sight. And now Taiga, with nothing but wings (and her dormant snowman shifting), is the less special one.
She glowers as her feet slosh through the river’s shallows, mind spinning over her conversation with her sister. Lumi had seemed so smug, so happy that she finally had something to one up her sister. Taiga needs to do something. She needs to get her back.
Still grumbling she turns away from the river and head right into a nearby thicket. Unfortunately, as distracted as she is, she manages to miss the strong scent of horse and the quiet sounds of movement, and crashes right through the thicket and nearly into the dark roan mare on the other side. “Hey!” She snarls, ears pinned and eyes wide. “Watch where you’re going!”
Taiga
frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul …