We awoke with a start.

I watched as my bondmate stirred in the morning sun. It wasn't often that he allowed himself to sleep when the moon was risen, for he hated to 'waste' any time spent with his appearance unaffected by magic. But much time had passed, and he seemed to have accepted the form his body took during the daylight hours with relative ease - when compared to the time when I first bonded to him, he was practically 'normal' now.

Shut up, his thoughts, sharp with irritation, stung me through our bond. I merely snorted in response, huffing away his words. It wasn't me, I replied softly, concern blossoming within me as this realisation settled in.

I wasn't sure why we both awoke so suddenly, so early in the day. So used to our life of quiet solitude had I grown, the idea that we could have our sleep interrupted was a foreign idea, a strange notion, one that now that it had actually occurred, caused upset to rise within me.

I rose on dainty limbs, and watched as he did the same, before casting my gaze out over the sands beyond the dunes we rested in. A breeze stirred, but that wasn't so unusual - that wasn't what had woken us up.

Something is wrong, I murmured, and my bondmate twitched to attention, coming to stand alongside me. I looked at him, taking in his decrepit form, knowing that a stallion of strong heart and mind lived on beneath the decaying flesh and body that stood beside me. His stench was offensive and his manners usually even more so, but he was my bondmate, and his way of life had managed to keep us both alive so far.

But this was different - this was wrong. He sniffed the air with his wrinkled muzzle, and looked to me. "I don't see anything wrong," his tones shot at me, though I could sense the lack of resolve behind his words.

Fine, I shot back at him, before walking forward over the sands. It's a nice day anyway, I added by way of explanation, before continuing to venture away from our hidden little spot towards the open sands, breathing in the salty ocean scent.

"Little shit," I heard him mutter in my wake, as he urged his limbs into motion. The ache that used to come with his daylight body seems to have faded over the years, as he grew to accept that there were just some things he would never change - some things he should just accept, for they weren't actually all that bad.

He followed me as we wandered along the beach, and my unease never faded, though my bonded managed to shove his own similar feelings aside easily enough. "You worry too much," he said to me as he walked past me, while I hesitated, suddenly unsure of how safe we were wandering along the water's edge. The words were so unexpected that I almost forgot the reason I was so worried - before a distraction arrived and I did forget whatever it was I had been so concerned about.

She was wild, untamed, part of the sky itself. Kiro froze too, in awe of the easy grace and athleticism she displayed as she landed amongst a wave of golden sand and wind. The clouds in the sky above reflected upon her hide exactly, and I could feel the admiration my bonded felt for her, as he stared openly at her.

With a smirk, I strode forward, towards this mare, wanting to prove that it wasn't me who worried too much (though it most certainly was), and to force my bonded into some kind of social interaction for a change - one that didn't involve hurling petty insults at me all day, anyway.

"Youmna!" I heard his bellow as he belatedly realised what I was doing - I was already only a few strides away from the mare, and I bowed my antlered crown in greeting to her with satisfaction.

Kiro came up behind me, trotting, panting, as the sun beat down upon his ruined form and made him feel wretched and unworthy. I cared, and almost felt guilty for forcing his hand like this - but then, something had changed in Helovia, and we weren't going to discover what that was without some kind of interaction with a Helovian, surely.

"Sorry about him - he doesn't mean any harm," my bondmate explained, as if that wasn't obvious. I huff at him, before determinedly focussing my attention to the long, straw-like grasses that grow in the dunes, decidedly ignoring them both now. I had achieved what I wanted to - they were talking now, my bondmate was actually interacting with someone, and though it was early days, he hadn't yet offended or threatened her.

I call it progress.

"I'm Kiro, might I know your name?"

Kirottu