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CIRCE That morning in the Foothills was a stiff, quiet affair, the dark morning after a particularly heavy snowstorm; the blizzard had moved on hours ago, yet while the sky was clear and the stars above sparkled with cold brilliance, it was still an hour away from daybreak at least. As it was, the sun was nothing but a thin, hazy yellow line on the horizon, and there had been no moon that night. Even though the starlight proved to illuminate the skies with their guiding light, it was the gentle twinkle of two, three fireflies--so out of place in this season-- that proved to lighten the snowy ground, floating fae-like by the side of the warrior mare that trudged on this too-early morning. With the combined might of the fireflies upon her back and the weight of exhaustion from getting up at this ungodly hour, Circe’s body was fairly numb to any sort of emotion she might feel. The depression that clung to her frame like a gloomy cloud still hung, but it was dampened somewhat by the fireflies’ soothing light; her body ached and protested, sore from her extracurricular duties and shivering with lingering sleep, and that was yet another distraction from whatever pain she might feel. The shadowmare yawned loudly, opening her maw as wide as it would go; she cast a glance for the northern horizon, her eyes alight with a not-so-shattering longing, an innocent sort of wondering, before turning her attention back to the task at hand. Snow crunched underneath her hooves as Circe vaguely paced the same general area, shaking her barrel some and twitching her withers, tail lashing here and there periodically—these were her attempts to keep herself awake. Today was the beginning of her shift of heavy patrol around the borders; she was to be teamed with an unknown herdmate named “Hana”. Circe had never met the girl before; she had no frame of reference with which to anticipate the stranger. Was she a serious sort? Haughty? Flirtatious? Whatever came to be, Circe didn’t want to leave an impression as that yawning mule that lagged behind in her duties. No, she would do her job and do it well, and give her herdmates a reason to be glad in her presence. |
