The world was a vast place. Arching far above her head, the sky, dark and as of yet with only the faintest indication of light upon the horizon, seemed endless. All the mountains touching its belly with their snow-capped heads were towering giants filled with secrets. It was a small world, doubly isolated by plains of ice and voluntary seclusion from everything known as allies, but to the one who had only just been introduced to the cool air it was big beyond comprehension.

Two-colored eyes stared wide and glittering out over the valley from her place close to the mountainside, standing in the opening of a cavern her mother had taken them to once the commotion after the birth had settled. Clean and dry, with a full belly and well rested after the emotional ordeal that was birth, the filly now found herself listening to the great silence of the earth. It wasn't perfect; her own heartbeats mingled with mother's steady breaths, the scraping of tiny cloves upon rock. It wasn't enough to drown out the peculiar noises that came from the outside world though. Trilling songs of pre-dawn birds, a cool wind through budding trees, waves rippling the surface of the steaming basin... and even now, in the void between night and day, she could hear the voices of those who were awake. Hushed, quiet voices mumbling things she didn't understand, speaking a language her mind was not yet capable of comprehending.

Shivering faintly from a cold breeze Nao wrapped the tail around the small rump and took a tentative step outward, just enough that her head emerged from the mouth of the cavern. Oversized ears wobbled from one angle to the next in her attempts to hear more, legs trembling as she hesitated over whether it was okay to go out further or not. Feeling the presence of Kou like a string tied from one heart to the next, the newborn filly stretched it precariously as she daringly balanced her way out unto the very edge, where the mountain side flattened enough to form a pathway down into the valley.

Impressed by her own bravery, the dappled girl danced a small jig where she stood and then aptly turned her attention to the east. Something was happening there, something was changing and chasing the darkness away. The sky spilling over the shoulders of the mountains was brightening, slowly but surely, and as she waited to see what would happen the little unicorn held her breath in anticipation.



[OOC: title means 'let there be light']