Adulthood blooms upon the gargoyle like a thief in the night. Puppy fat has been stripped and shed, replaced with thickened muscle and womanly curves. She stands tall, taller than her mother, taller than most of her peers, her father's raw bulk and power balanced out by her dam's lighter breeding to lend precision and agility to her size. Oizys watches the world sprawled out at her feet, knowing it is now hers to explore and devour.
And The Thing in her heart is gone, cured by her mother's killer.
Its absence is a blessed one. She hadn't realised how much it had affected her - things other horses take for granted like being able to turn their head without finding their throat sent into paroxysms of pain by the virus in their heart, being able to move for long periods without collapsing with exhaustion. Oizys' moral dilemma at being cured by Kaos has faded somewhat now she knows what her body is capable of without its handicap, and she prowls the Basin's borders with pride and power.
Crack!
The sound is thunderous, sending Ker leaping from her bonded's back in a haze of feathers and anguished squawking. Adulthood is not so new for the raptor, who grew far faster than her bonded, but she delights in having Oizys join her into maturity. The stone-grey mare angles herself towards the sound, following Ker with long, fluid strides that eat up the snow beneath her.
She's approaching from outside the Basin, having been mooching around the neutral lands to test her new strength and ability. Her stride launches into a trot, only halting when she sees the source - a palomino man, horned and the same height as her. Ker circles, lending Oizys an aerial view of the savage whip wielded by the stranger. "That's a kinky-ass accessory you have there," she says. Her voice is naturally a sultry purr, denoting her new status as a woman grown and flowered. There's something odd about the stranger's smell, something not quite male, although the scarred mare is too inexperienced to question it. "What is your business with the Basin?" That's what soldiers say to potential intruders, right?
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