How was a sky home, indeed? She did land, of course. Like all horses, Rae still fed on grass, spent some small amount of time each day asleep on the ground (though, occasionally, she did sleep on clouds but they tended to take her to all sorts of places). But she spent as much time as she possibly could in the sky, and when she wasn’t in it, she could always feel it. Birds simply came to her at her asking, and she could always hear the whispering of the wind in her ears, could feel it as it played with her hair. They were one, her and the sky, as much as any horse could be one with something as vast and powerful and awesome as the sky.
She was a wild as the sky though, untried and untested in civilization. Coming home then was strange for her, and it was hard to say if she could manage to actually stay, to live somewhere. The lands though tempted her, the herds intrigued her, and she found herself wondering what it was like even if she wasn’t so curious as to try it. Not yet, anyway.
He doesn’t seem tame, per say, but certainly moreso than she is. He smells of land as she assumes she must smell of wind, whatever exactly that might smell like (it changes always). She wonders if he calls one of these nameless (nameless to her, that is) herds home, or if, like any average horse, he simply spent enough time with his feet firmly planted to the ground. She suspected the former though, having noticed that different lands had distinctly different smells, much like the seasons always smelled different.
“They are one in the same, I think.” she says, strangely museful and calm as she flies backward in the middle of winter. This truly is her home, for she is far calmer and far more capable in the air than on the land. He seems to hesitant then – or perhaps she only imagines it – debating whether to join her or not. Though she had hardly shown her true hand, she had given him glimpses, and perhaps the challenge was too much. After all, she had never promised to play fair, though for the moment, she was. Not that she cares, as she’s already taking off, letting him choose or not. He would be worth her time if he followed.
Then he accepts, and she laughs as he loops over her head. “Is your goal simply to stare at my rear?” she calls, entirely at ease here in the air. Funny how difficult she found something so simple as conversation when it began on the ground, but of course there, she was too far out of her element to know where to begin. He levels out, and she grins. “Shall I play fair?” she asks, though she doesn’t wait for an answer.
He was good, and she found herself trying to keep up with him without the aid of her power. She could, of course, but it was challenging and fun. Oh, it was rare to meet her equal in the sky. Well, equal when she took away her magic, but that simply was unfair. With a few powerful beats of her wings she begins to move up. Up, up up, loosing herself in the clouds she hadn’t cleared above them and simply disappearing for a moment. Then, without warning, she tucks her wings and dives, aiming herself right in front of him, shooting down in a spiral. The clouds beneath them loom beneath her and at the last minute she spreads her wings, leveling out and coming to a near halt above the closest cloud.
“Or, I could play unfairly,” she grins, stepping on the cloud below her and tucking her wings to the side. It’s unclear if she’s solidifying the cloud or simply keeping herself aloft with magic and not wings. Perhaps it’s both. Either way, she grins up at him from her perch on the cloud.
@Wolfbane