keep a little fire burning; ledger

[Smoak]

Keep a little fire burning;
however small, however hidden.

The volcano is a curious thing.

Smoak is drawn to it. The mountain is not always pleasant - some days it smells more like eggs than others, and sometimes it's too uncomfortably hot to explore during the daytime (plus... Mom and Dad haven't been too keen on him exploring around it yet, so stealth is a necessity), but the slow rolling lava always coaxes him back to the base of the volcano where the larger streams sit before they give birth to the small rivulets that venture further out.

The champagne colt has ditched his parents for the day (Dad had wanted to go to the River again, and Mom had Head of War things to take care of), so while they are elsewhere and distracted, Smoak is nearing the volcanic mountain to inspect the orange streams. He slips between the occasional tree, though not many of them grow here where the lava collects more than foliage, and lets his hazel eyes follow the course of the magma.

Moving leisurely, the lanky colt meanders closer to the base of the volcano, where the earth begins to ascend. His hooves find purchase on the loose, dark earth and he begins to move upward, though not before his ears twitch in respond to an approaching noise. Crap, his mind complains as he swings his head around to see who'd caught him.

Not Mom. Or Dad.

Score.

"Hello," he says confidently to Mom's one-eyed friend. "If you could, uh, not tell Mom that you saw me up here... that would, uh, well that would be great." Smoak smiles wide, the sheepish expression overtaking his young face.

Smoak

lineart colored by sanaa

@[Ledger]