Ever since she had seen Osiris and the winged grey on the sands of this beach, disappearing in a cloud of emotional misery, she had not returned. However, the call of the ocean was a siren's song of her homeland, a homeland destroyed and overrun by wickedness. Though the grains of sand were different and the landscape rockier and longer, the call of the gulls and the crashing of waves still reminded her of the Tides. Ophelia's cloven hooves moved from grass and sank into the white, grainy powder. She mused that the color was similar to snow, but more of a dirtier, bastardized brother - the less loved of the earthen family.
For now, the Blue was cool enough that even the humidity of the ocean could not make the sands stick to her coat or the air become too dense. Perhaps if life had permitted, she would have moved on from her home on the Tides to somewhere else, but instead, she was forced to relocate. Interesting timing was everything.
Tinek pushed off from her rump into a backward curl before his wings thrust him upward into the cloudy, winter skies. Ophelia could not help but smile. In the darkness of her life emerged her glorious, silver light, a creature to share her mind. No other, not even her sister, would ever understand the depth and complexity of her memories, but now she was not entirely alone. His dark shadow drifted softly and slowly on the sand like a tired cloud in a windstorm. She trotted after it, her muscles straining against the deep, yielding grains.
Though lithe, Ophelia was more of a thinker than a fighter; she was agile, fast over short distances, and relatively fit, but in a race of stamina, she would sadly come up short. She should probably change that. Carefully, she shifted into a rolling, ground-covering canter, her long legs carrying her swiftly. One of her hips was burning more than the other, so she held her legs in mid air before starting forward on a new step. The wind brutally pulled on the crimson and pale fibers of her mane and tail, and she raced after her dragon's shadow as his laughter bubbled in her mind.
Tinek was not about to give up the image of her flying, and she shook her head, snorting. Impossible. Ophelia deftly jumped over a log that had drifted sadly from the open seas and then slid to a stop, trying to catch her breath. Sweat gathered beneath the swell of her belly and darkened the white fur of her chest, and she slowly walked on the firm sand near the crashing waves back north. Perhaps it would be wise to wash the sweat from her body once she cooled. Thick, white steam rose from her body, and she paced until the beat of her heart could no longer be heard drumming in her ears.
Then, without a moment's hesitation, she plunged into the water, feeling it crash over her body and turn the white hairs of her coat into a dark, bluish grey with her black skin beneath. Ophelia emerged moments later and shook the water off, her hair hanging in long, wet clumps and her tail catching around her hind legs. Tinek's laughter was still ringing in her mind, and she snorted, leaping upward and snapping at his silver tail. He hissed at her in shock and dove, playfully grabbing at her wet mane. To anyone watching, she could have been fighting with the royal beast, but they were simply playing.
|
.svg/2000px-Google_Chrome_icon_(2011).svg.png){kind=icon}
