Mother had raised her to be strong and wild. Father had raised her to be strong and kind.
Breach ended up somewhere in the middle.
She was a personality as much in flux as her body itself—changing by the day and molded by the very world around her. As such, she found she enjoyed trying on different skins, different personalities. She enjoyed being coy one day and sharp-tongued the next. Enjoyed being soft and sweet or ruthless. There was no resting point for her. Nowhere for her to settle into a personality and let it grow around her.
Instead, she took flight with the slightest shift in the breeze. She shifted to match those around her, even letting herself change mid-conversation if it so suited her. And the truth of her? The pieces that did not shift, did not change? Those she kept tucked away close, placing them near and dear to her heart.
Today, for now at least, she feels weightless.
She wakes and moves from the rest of her family. For a second, she contemplates taking the shape of a small cub—she is, naturally, partial to the form of big cats—but she feels like seeing the world from higher. So instead she shifts into the form of a falcon. She stretches her wings wide and takes flight.
The world is a miraculous thing from this angle and she wishes that she could share it with her mother. Wishes that she could let Sochi see just how small everything is when you’re taking flight on the nearest breeze. But her mother would never want to leave the forest floor, she knows, and the thought doesn’t last for long. Instead, she angles her body on a downdraft and then tucks her wings in close.
She feels something like joy swell in her chest as she dives to the ground and, with a grace that belies her young age, she shifts. She takes several running steps to catch her balance as hooves strike the ground and her laugh escapes her finally, echoing slightly as she comes to a sliding stop and shakes her head, her thin, coltish legs prancing beneath her. Delighted, she turns her dual-colored eyes to the area around her.
She could only wonder at what adventures she would find today.
I want to swim until we both begin to feel the weightlessness sink in