Look down, the ground below is crumbling
Look up, the stars are all exploding
Through the half-light of early morning, a small Twix rummaged alone between the gnarled roots of an old white oak, muttering to itself all the while. Delicate fingers brushed aside the frail skeletons of withered leaves; those whose weary place in the vast emerald canopy above had been severed during perhaps a freak storm when the season shifted. Suddenly, the tiny creature lifted his face into the still, warm air and sniffed with flayed, trembling whiskers the stranger’s scent which had fallen upon his position. Two scampering leaps was all it took the agile being to scale the tangle of weathered roots round him and there, upon the highest of them he watched with wide, shining eyes as a horse with one wing stirred from her slumber on the forest floor.

Sighing, the Twix began to turn from the harmless mare to resume his foraging.

((Reeeeeep)). Silas was right in front of the little squirrel-like animal as he turned, with his sharp beak crooked curiously to the side. Bright round eyes watching intently as the Twix began to quake fearfully on the spot, but the young Zephyr had not the taste for flesh like his kind naturally should, and he clucked gently, the way he might when roosted against the warmth of his clammy partner. The small red-brown animal stared warily at the avian, undecided as to the potential predator’s intention- apprehensively he reached for his fluffy, long tail, pulling it to his front to huddle into.

"Silas?" As the raven black Zephyr turned his focus towards his companion, his feathers glowed with a subtle purple sheen. Instantly, the Twix seized his opportunity and fled as fast as his minute paws would carry him, off through the shaggy undergrowth. "What are you doing?" the young mare asked inquisitively, as she paused long skull hanging just above the ground. Her gentle honey eyes were shifting between the direction in which the other animal had fled, and her beloved. She knew he could not understand her words, but her voice sang quietly and playfully as dawn began to break around them.

Quickly, the Zephyr glanced back to where he had left the Twix, but to his dismay the spot on the root beside him was quite empty. He huffed gruffly and fluttered upwards, alighting in the lumpy, heavy bough of the oak. Africa lifted her face, her warm expression embracing the little bird with deep affection and she moved carefully to mock bump him. The couple had spent the long night bedded across the littered floor of the old timber forest, and both had enjoyed the luxury of the cooler climate, soft-spongy earth and rich, tranquil chorus of undisturbed crickets. Such a night away from home was quite a luxury compared to the brutal nature of their desert home.

Africa spoke no more to her friend- whenever she did it was absolutely for her social benefit rather than to converse with him. Instead she began to sift through the rotting mat cushioning her soft tread with twitching whiskered lips, pulling at any shoots of grass she came across. A considerable stretch of time passed the pair by when the stir of footsteps caught Africa’s attention. Already Silas had swept from the tree to investigate the source of sound- to determine if threat had closed in upon his beloved. The young mare followed a small space behind, though when her searching, honey eyes did find the stranger her expression lifted into a bright smile.

"Hello!" She called as the shade thickened suddenly and she drew to a halt respectably close by the glossy black Pegasus mare. Silas swooped down with a wary eye cast across her, landing with precision upon the spine of his mate. “I’m Africa; and this is Silas.”