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12-03-2013, 05:06 PM
Summer's heat, a persistent thing even this far north, had finally faded. The seasons shifted with a terrific bang, sunshine and clear skies giving way to cold and snow, seemingly overnight. And with autumn's chilly foreboding of what was yet to come, came a new resolution within the heart of the wanderer who'd been caught out in the first snows.
It was time to go back. Back home? Perhaps he wouldn't call it that, not yet. Perhaps not ever. Nor did where he belonged quite fit. Nevertheless, it was the place he thought of when he stood there with his back to the falling snow and swirling wind, shivering lightly against the renewed cold beneath a coat that was just beginning to grow out. The Basin, with its sprawling lake and hot springs. Where his few acquaintances dwelled. Where Illynx, his token friend with the fearsome temper, lived. He'd had the summer to evade bumping into her, let her irritation with him over his absence from the invasion forces fade. It was time to go back.
So he'd left the steppe, travelling for higher ground further south. For the mountains that were so familiar now, sheltering their secret refuge from the very worst of the weather. And it was why he stood here now, atop the highest point of the narrow path down into the Basin, gazing down at the still waters of the lake. Watching the reflected clouds wander across its surface. A small smile worked its way onto the lean stallion's face as he stood there, a tiny silhouette against the narrow slice of sky between the mountains that guarded the path.
Then he set forth, picking his way down the path with steps that were both careful and sure. He'd gone this way before, enough times that he knew the way. But he didn't doubt the capability of the mountain to throw a few unexpected things in the way. Green eyes alternated between keeping an eye out for loose stones and seeking ahead for signs of life, while he wondered just who he would stumble into first. Would it be a face he'd recognize, or someone newly recruited to the 'cause'?
It was time to go back. Back home? Perhaps he wouldn't call it that, not yet. Perhaps not ever. Nor did where he belonged quite fit. Nevertheless, it was the place he thought of when he stood there with his back to the falling snow and swirling wind, shivering lightly against the renewed cold beneath a coat that was just beginning to grow out. The Basin, with its sprawling lake and hot springs. Where his few acquaintances dwelled. Where Illynx, his token friend with the fearsome temper, lived. He'd had the summer to evade bumping into her, let her irritation with him over his absence from the invasion forces fade. It was time to go back.
So he'd left the steppe, travelling for higher ground further south. For the mountains that were so familiar now, sheltering their secret refuge from the very worst of the weather. And it was why he stood here now, atop the highest point of the narrow path down into the Basin, gazing down at the still waters of the lake. Watching the reflected clouds wander across its surface. A small smile worked its way onto the lean stallion's face as he stood there, a tiny silhouette against the narrow slice of sky between the mountains that guarded the path.
Then he set forth, picking his way down the path with steps that were both careful and sure. He'd gone this way before, enough times that he knew the way. But he didn't doubt the capability of the mountain to throw a few unexpected things in the way. Green eyes alternated between keeping an eye out for loose stones and seeking ahead for signs of life, while he wondered just who he would stumble into first. Would it be a face he'd recognize, or someone newly recruited to the 'cause'?
