It was good to feel the caress of wind rush over his wings again. The time in those caves had been more constricting than the boy would have imagined, it had reduced him to little more than a receiver for a constant flow of information that never really came to an end. As person after person moved throughout the stony halls the air, the ground, the rocks and grass and the very water permeated with stories; fractions, puzzle pieces thrown up into the air where they had become trapped. Not unlike shimmering droplets of glass dangling from a spiders thin silk thread, multicolored and endlessly more faceted. He walked into it constantly, endlessly, until his vision blurred with visions of the past that was becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from the present.

He'd had to slip away, even if only for a little while. He knew it was dangerous, he knew he should bring someone with him as he headed out into the strange white world that had transformed everything he knew into something cold and clear and painfully dazzling... But he didn't. The thought of spending even a second longer with horses crammed up against his skin made the colt want to scream and run.

So, instead he simply clambered up the steep pathway and ducked out into a world transformed.

Snow really was a marvelous thing. It was the first time he saw it in person, the very first time he was able to experience first hand how cold the air was, how crisp and clean it tasted. The crunch of ice crystals beneath the hooves, the way powder blew up into the air as he tumbled through it; how could a phenomenon so simple as water frozen in the atmosphere create a material that was so fascinating?

Kari didn't even realize how far from the sanctuary he had gotten until he ran across a peculiar gathering of horses up ahead. It was an anomaly, a peculiar group of individuals circling around something on the ground - and like any child, the little gray hybrid just couldn't resist a good mystery.
Still, he was careful as he approached. The closer he came to the group the more apparent it became that they were all adults. Big, strong, strange mares with impressive horns and a stallion with strange wings and all even had impressive looks of concern on their faces. It was obviously something serious going on, something - he had found, after spending most of his childhood around grownups - he normally would have been excluded from, being of a young age and seemingly fragile appearance. His horns weren't even half-grown yet, brittle and flaying even, and then there was the bulky wings that rested heavy against the slate gray ribcage, clearly setting him aside from the others.

It was with lowered head and caution in the step that he approached, rounding the group from behind while peering between numerous hairy pillars, some pale and some dark. He could see the creature that rested on the ground in the middle of the group of mares, but no matter how he wrecked his brain the kid just couldn't figure out what the thing was. Perplexed, Kari made himself as small as he could and tried to slip in between a pretty white lady with deers antlers and a bay one with gold flecks across the coat, tucking the tail tightly between the legs to avoid getting it trampled. Then he reached out a nose curiously towards the old creature, sniffing and regarding it and the egg beside it with intense interest.

"Hi, I'm Kari, son of Shadow and Carnesîr" he eventually said, introducing himself with that rambling voice and absent gaze one often get when reading something by heart. "Can I know your name, mister? Is that your egg? It's very pretty, what do you think is inside it? I met a horse once who had an egg; it was different than this though, all green and a bit slimy... It's cause he carried it in his mouth, it looked a bit silly but I didn't say anything because that would have been very rude."

"Why are you all standing here, by the way?" he finally asked and looked up to peer between the mares and the stallion with innocent blue eyes, already forgetting how he was supposed to be careful and invisible. It all disappeared in this one great desire that always consumed him in new situations, that itch that made it hard to stand still, that made him ramble and tremble and grow a bit sweaty as he kept looking at the egg and its guardian, just dying to get to touch either - or both! - of them, just once.


ooc: Wishlist [Companion: Rougarou | Electric]


I see your true colors