Wide wings beat in steady rhythm, carrying her south from what Africa had called the Threshold. She had taken her first step towards permanence in this new land by accepting a place with the herd at Dragon’s Throat. She had met two of their number in the forest of the Threshold and they had been so unlike those she had grown up with that even before they had offered, Megaera had longed to go with them. Truly, this impulse was still strange for her, even more so that she thought they might one day become friends, but it was done. Flying had always been good for thinking, and as the autumn breezes buffeted her about the sky, Megaera was trying to get used to the idea of companionship as well as the new lands she was eager to explore.

When she had arrived in the region, the summer had been waning, near to close, and the winds of autumn had come with a crisp chill. The earth-colored mare didn’t mind the wind (in fact, she was quite fond of the forceful currents) but the cold she could do without, it reminded her to much of the tundras where she had been born. Her father’s herd had all been thickly coated and hot blooded, but her mother’s southern blood had made Meg ill-suited for the cold. As she moved south back towards her newfound desert home, the air warmed again and the young mare let her path wander. Night was drawing closer and the first stars began to show dimly in the eastern sky as Meg let the wind toss her around the sky. Higher and higher she reached, where the air grew thin and from the ground she may have seemed only a bird.

And then she let herself drop.

Speed. It was the greatest exhilaration. She plummeted downward, slender head pointed and wings pulled tight to her body, like a falcon upon its prey. Her only prey at this point was practice. Everyday, it seemed, she learned something new about who she was and what she could do; she called it her “training sessions” (not that she really knew what she was training for.) Megaera tried her newest trick and spun her body slightly. Even the small motion was enough to send her body in to a tight spiral, increasing her speed even further and she hurtled closer to the ground. When it seemed she might hit the grassy terrain like an asteroid, she spread her long feathers again and in a great woosh of wind came out of the dive to glide over, the plain, skimming her hooves and wingtips through the tips of the long grasses.

She had been so caught up in her diving delight, that Me had not before noticed the light ahead, brighter now than the glow to the west where the sun had just dipped below the horizon. It opened before her, the vast pit that burned and smoked, and she dared not fly across it. She touched down clumsily some yards away from the mouth of the hole in the earth. Righting her footing, she stared at this new wonder before her. This land, she had already seen had a deeper magic that she understood, and she had already heard that gods walked in Helovia. Africa and Gaucho had spoken of their Sun God, This looks like it could be his work. Face the heat, she moved over the cracked clay beneath her, stopping just shy of the edge, gaze transfixed by the shadows that played in the flamed below.

Years from now they might call her a warrior, the conqueror of realms and men, but for now Megarea was only a girl. A fighter with nothing to fight for. In years, truly, she was grown, yet her heart was still restless and reckless and she had many lessons to learn before could find her place.

[lainespeak]
Tagged: @[Mauja]
Notes: No rush, darlin!