Like the timid first rains after a drought, thin threads of pale light outlined the darkness. Eyes, so unaccustomed to such brightness, flinch instinctively but are still so hungry for the sight. The pale slivers widen, golden fingers wresting apart the unlight, illuminating pieces of sky framed by clawlike branches. At first the world is grey, but as the sun affirms its tenuous ascent, sunlight flooded every shadow with gilded brilliance. It lit the depths of her eyes like swimming-pools in summertime, it kindled a spark in her heart which drove her ever forward, hungry for the light. Half-blinded and mad with hope, the roan plunged through the grey forest, cautiously delighted as she swam through the rays of sun which filtered steadily through lush green leaves. Her lissome body, sleek with health and care and spring grass, glowed as it passed beneath shadows and through luminescence, every inch of her blue frame gilded with dawn. She threw up her heels, sending a flurry of dead leaves and dust swirling in her wake. Huyana became a forest nymph, carefree and reckless, her dark mane the only traces of that cruel gloom.

The rainchild laughed and danced madly, hair swirling glamorously in her wake as she twisted and turned and wobbled. Bliss swelled every pore like water infiltrating dead wood, threatening to burst. Warmth bloomed and spread over her skin as the sun rose, and her illuminated form capered and bucked through the forest. Even the trees seemed to rejoice with the cavorting maiden, swaying to some ancient tune.

Then, it began to fall.

At first it barely grazed the uppermost leaves, shyly trickling down to the forest floor; but as the clouds began to gather in this seemingly endless sky, the drops thrummed and rollicked like the girl below, dripping off the edges of leaves and dampening whatever dryness the sun had brought.

If Huyana had been elated before, now she was exuberant, eyes widening with bewilderment as the raindrops caught on her lashes, rolled down her horn, collected on her back. Hooves dug into the forest's carpet, effectively halting her romp—she cried out in amazement; this was what she had been waiting for all these sunless months, what she had been denied for such a cruelly long time. She shut her eyes and found herself ambling in circles, hooves churning mud as the rain fell harder, until a pale halo hung over her drenched form, rainbows glimmering along her body where light caught the raindrops. She laughed and laughed until her sides hurt and she danced until her limbs were numb, and then she just was; letting the rain wash away her cares and unhappiness until all that was left was Huyana, a girl who loved.