I think that I am lucky,
I have many,
I'm no fool
And the greatest one of all
is by your side
and in the snow.
BEAUTY IS PERCEPTION
It appeared that there was not that much to be said. Ashamin, being one that appreciated silence, wasn't about to complain. And with the soft sighs of Lochan asleep at his back, the gentle view of falling snow, he felt at peace.
When Cashmere spoke the first time, he hadn't given it much thought. But when that had faded into silence, silence she so abruptly broke with a question, Ashamin was startled out of a reverie. How strange, that he had felt almost dreamlike. It was as if he had taken to sleep for a moment, but still walked. Why did that sensation feel familiar?
Why did all of this feel familiar? He'd never even been here, before.
But as he burst out through the fog of relaxation and uncertainty, he realized she had asked a rather simple question, and one with a peaceful answer. He smiled, watching as the breath curled from her nostrils in cold wisps and his own did the same upon sighing.
"There is nothing else like it," he murmured in response, picturing the view from his cave, the most tranquil place he had known. "It's an irreplaceable peace, the sensation of watching a storm from inside your home."
The thought threatened to force him into wandering again, somewhere far away from the scene. This mare, whomever she was, was curious and perhaps not as accustomed to silence as he, but good company. And curiosity was a virtue, anyway.
Then a thought occurred, a rather relevant but still somehow errant seeming one. "Do you have a home, Cashmere?" the haruspex questioned, his black eyes deep and wide, his long tail a waving banner, his heart still and calm.
Table by Jen, with help from Avis