so i listen to the    wind for an answer

She’s never used the magic on herself before, and it’s a strange and lovely feeling. Cool and dark and beautiful, full of a light one might not expect. It suits the Moon, she thinks, enjoying the feel of the wind that tugs at her hair, the mist that cools her overheating skin. The sweat dries, leaving her clean rather than sticky and itchy. Her muscles quiet, the screaming ache from the uphill climb turning to a dull throb and eventually, to nothing. She feels refreshed and rested when the mists roll away, and she’s thankful for the magic in a way she has not been before. Appreciative of a power she’s only ever watched worked on a far more personal level now.

Erthe thanks her, and Lyanna is about to protest, to tell her to thank the Moon instead. It was the Moon’s power, after all. A gift Lyanna was allowed to weild, but it wasn’t hers. Not really. But the scream cuts them short and she forgets anything she had thought to say. It’s not until the fox is gone and nothing else comes to join them that she drops the horn back to her shoulder, letting it hang in its’ usual place against her black skin. It’s the first time she’s had cause to use it, but it’s the second time in one evening she owes the Moon Goddess. Not that she was entirely certain their Lady had given her the horn, but it certainly looked like it.

Lyanna laughs slightly, though her voice stays hushed. “I rather hate foxes,” she says, though it’s not entirely true. They were fine unless they were making noise, and then it was anything but fine. She’s never gotten used to the sound, and never would. But of course, she couldn’t pick a fox’s scream out from a regular one. They sounded far too alike.

They start moving again, faster now. Erthe leads, and Lyanna follows, keeping her eyes turned upward as much as she can. If there’s been enough light to see the fox by, certainly they must be heading toward some place where they could see the sky. Where they could find some way to orient themselves. But her attention is drawn back to Erthe as the girl apologizes. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I wasn’t paying attention, and I should have been.” She was older and should have been watching out for Erthe, not losing herself in games. But she’d let herself get carried away, and put them both in harm’s way. If anyone should be sorry, it was her.

lyanna