Art by Neverr ♥

but somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin' dreams

More came. They gathered, drawn in by the silent call beckoning to their souls; he watched them, he judged them, and he missed them. He remained a shaggy, unkempt ghost on the sidelines, his still-lethargic and confused owls sitting quietly on his spine now that their job was done, and they were staring at everyone with wide eyes—not so different from usual, but he felt the difference. In them, and in him; he could see it, too, in the hollows beneath his fur and their feathers. He ground his jaws together; he was alone.

No one came to stand by him, no one came to greet him. He thought he'd seen Alysanne smile at him, but that was it. They placed their gifts, and either remained as they were in the crowd, or sought the presence of others, standing close together.

He envied them the warmth and love they shared; he envied them for they were loved. In somebody's sky they were the brightest, most precious of stars, unrivaled by any other, the one they instinctively went to with their concerns and their joys, the one that simply was the one.

By always remaining alone, he was that to no one; he was just another star, perhaps bright, perhaps precious, but always outshone.

The turtle began to speak, thanking them, before gifting them with a verse of all the things Mauja wanted but could never have: a perfect world free of war and hatred and disdain. He swallowed. Blinked. The tree lit up, and it tugged at something painful in his soul, bid the corners of his mouth tilt up in his characteristic small smile, even while his eyes filled up with tears.

Irma suddenly twitched, and turned to look meaningfully at Diego. The amber-eyed owl gave a bird of prey's equivalent of a grin, and together they swooped to the ground on unsteady wings. There, the Earth Turtle had thanked Mauja for his snowflake by producing several small diamond snowflakes, and with an air of mischievous secrecy the owls picked them up in talons meant for killing. Some of them they laid on his rump, but they grabbed three and set to work, clumsily braiding them like a little snowfall into his mane, just behind his left ear.

Mauja, who did not quite notice what the were doing, but fortunately had such a broad ass that the charms laid there did not slide off, began to move into the crowd. Unless waylaid, his end goal was to stand beside Lena, offering her not much more than a quiet, sad smile.

[ Mau gets some of his snowflakes braided into his mane xD and goes to stand next to @Lena ]