The snow was deep, deeper than the upper crags of the Basin where Mother had once led me to the hot springs.

("How is the water going to help me, nothing helps me!" I bleat hopelessly, voice tainted with vapid exaggeration as I trudged nervously after the black mare. I could see her ears twisting, imagine the pull of her lips as she frowned toward my weakness. Of course, she was not weak like me, she reveled in ego and wielded her pride like a sharpened knife.

And yet...)

I plow through the drifts with relative ease, wide hooves clearing snow and chipping ice into a usable path. High steppes - aptly named for their... frosty veil - rose in the near distance, echoed in the depths of opalescent orbs. They knew this place, recognized the steep curve rocky hills and rugged trails that opened up into hidden valleys. Here was a place that I knew very well, inciting an intimate warmth inside my bones, reaching, reaching to tug on heartstrings. Snippets of memory flickered behind my eyes, eyelids fluttered curiously.

My body stilled, one leg yet hanging in the cold air, the tip of a hoof brushing uncertainly against the high snow. I was born here, tucked safely against my Mother's flank, invisible to the howling storm outside. I remembered it like yesterday, shrieking wind and the soft tickle of breath against my wet ears. Along with the wisp of images was something else, something... a shadow I could not quite distinguish.

FOOF!

Powdery dust erupted into my face as some manner of creature evacuated from my presence. From the back I might have guessed them (there are two now that I look) to be foxes, but I could not be sure, not with my head so firmly planted in the past. At least what I could recall, the moment was undeniably lost, reality settling in with a glossy shimmer across the snow. Sunlight painted the scene in every color you could imagine, soft oranges, harsh reds, gentle pinks, nature's palette. Nostrils quivered as I fought the urge to grimace, it was too perfect, too lovely for the atmosphere invading my thoughts. Despite this I stand there, staring blankly at the horizon, nit-picking the landscape. It is hard to complete a puzzle without all of its pieces.

Wolves howled somewhere and I cast my gaze back to the sky, finding vague comfort in the inky darkness that had capsized upon the dusk. In the dark it was not hard to pick out differences, shadow had many depths yet rarely varied in shade, tending toward the familiar charcoal facade. There, rustling about in the snow was something large, a bear perhaps? I wanted to look toward the gathered rocks but my eyes could not focus properly, struggling amongst the towering darkness.

"Who are you?" I ask, voice smooth, ensconced in veiled curiosity, led by caution.

"Talk."

ooc - gomen xoxo

@Sacre