Memories of the ocean danced across her mind. They were far in the past, flickering in and out of her sight and leaving teasing reminders of what had once been. Recalling the first time she’d sunk her hooves into the soft white sands on the shores of her birthplace, Anthe could feel a whisper of the sun warming her back and if she concentrated hard enough, she could taste the brine of the ocean flavoring her lips. She’d been less than a year old the first time her pale eyes had touched the cresting waves and endless planes of the nameless ocean that stroked the edges of her homeland with a lover’s touch. There had been awe struck deep into her young heart that day. Never had she seen something so vast and so alive for although she was born of the skies, the heavens did not breathe with the same power that roared off of the ocean. Amazement, however, did not paralyze her for long and she could remember rushing to meet the waves as they reached across the beach to embrace her. She had frolicked and played for ages like any child would – for how does a child experience something without fully immersing themselves in it? Even when she’d left the shores (not for long, Anthe had returned to her beach every day until the one fateful day when she was no longer there to return to it), the ocean stayed with her. The awe that had wormed its way into her heart had grown with her, built until it was no longer a child’s wonder but instead a woman’s lust. Yes, Anthe could not remember the ocean without being reminded that the ocean had given birth to her. It had molded her and shaped her and sent her on her way thousands of miles from home on a quest that would continue even after death so long as one could find adventures in the afterlife. And that was the funny things about memories; they started in one spot until they consumed you and took you in unexpected directions.


Visions of the ocean diminished and Anthe tucked the memories back in her mind, safe and sound until she should call them to her again. It had been weeks since she’d last caught a glimpse of the waves glittering under the heavy sun. She missed the ocean dearly, so she held tight to the reminders of it and bravely bore the accompanying memories that tagged along, rising like corpses from their graves in the shadowy corners of her mind that she rarely dared to touch. It hadn’t been long since she’d landed from flight, forced down by the aching fatigue that had settled into her muscles and weighted down her wings like heavy stones. The land below proved to be vastly different from the summery images of the beaches that she’d been reminiscing. Frost clung to everything, turning the world a wintry white that perfectly matched her body. As she stepped into the trees, the ground beneath her crunched and shifted and she found herself pulling her wings tight across her barrel to shield herself from the sudden temperature shift. It had been a while since she’d last landed – longer than it should have been, but Anthe had chosen to be stubborn and willed herself to defy her physical limitations. The moment her hooves had hit the permafrost, she’d begun to reap the consequences of her recklessness. With every step deeper into the frozen forest, her body cried for a break, her already aching muscles locking up in the frigid air. Her eyelids were heavy above her pale eyes and more than once she found a sudden draft of winter air waking her from a doze. Traveler’s weariness aside, the omnipresent curiosity that burned in Anthe’s chest was fully aflame as it animated her leaden limbs and drug her deeper into the foreign trees in search of the only thing she knew how to find – adventure.