She found a crack leading to the center of the earth.

Or rather, more than one. Here in the Frostbreath Steppe, crevices spider webbed across the plumes of ice and white, dark, deep blue lines, the largest stretching a width of near four horses, nose to hindquarters. It was a dance with death, every step to cross the treacherous snowscape. Below her cloven hooves, even the ground seemed to whisper and moan, creaking eerily in the stunning quiet of the frozen desert. Sheets of ice, narrowly covered by a light snow, kept the deathly place a secret, and yet prepared to send a horse slithering downwards towards one of the crevices that shot far down into the earth, so far one might just grow bored of the endless falling, before the blistering heat creeps over you. Or maybe you just hit a black floor and died, bones cracked and splintered, covered in red, red blood.

Snö reveled in the feeling of wisdom as she navigated the maze of quick and dragged out death, sensing that one wrong move could send her plummeting downwards, for her to disappear without a trace. Or would she? Was Tamlin not following her out here, to speak with her? How perfect had this dangerous place been, as if it had been built for her. It had taken several hours to prepare herself, to know every nook and cranny of this glacial place, knowing she was as safe as she could be with her mental map. No- she had no intention of killing him. Bullying him? Drawing him nearer to the edge, to swiftly throw her shoulder forward and make contact, only to save him at the last of seconds, indebt him to her? Here, he could prove his worth as son of Mauja and the FrostHeart and a slut. Maybe Snö could even grow to enjoy him company. As if. If she followed her father down his road paved with love from his followers and how he returned it, then maybe- her mother, than perhaps not so much.

It was the morning after Tamlin had returned, the sun a pale eye rising in the sky blanketed with thick, blank gray clouds impossible to make heads or tails of, never ending, heavy, drab, and constant everywhere. She had ventured out here, in the dim lighting, following her feet, to find herself skittering towards one of the hazardously deep chasms, finding her heartbeat thudding wildly as she leapt back from the edge, only just realizing the deadly playground she had entered.

But now... where was her little brother?

""

His sisters voice had woke him up a while ago, but he was still almost half asleep now when he followed her scent away from the Aurora Basin. She had left so quickly that he barely had time to see which way she’d gone. Luckily her more and more familiar scent still clung to the grass and when the snow and ice took over he saw her hoof prints which were easy enough to follow.

Yawning and flickering his ears the colt now jogged over the hazardous glacier. With his muzzle to the ground and his mismatched eyes focused on his sister’s trail he increased the distance between him and the safe refuge of the unicorn herd with every step he took. But Tamlin was too sleepy to register the danger - or maybe too naïve and too trusting of Snö.

However a sudden, dull clank soon woke the colt from his half-sleep. The noise was looming and threatening - like a growling predator stalking it’s pray. Tamlin stopped and raised his head in alarm. For a moment he stood frozen like he belonged to the ice around him, but then he anxiously flicked his ears and swallowed.

Ever so carefully Tamlin started walking. His whole body was tense and he gazed around as if he was expecting an attacker. Where was Snö? Was she playing Hide and go seek or something?

Even if he felt uneasy in this place he couldn’t deny that it was beautiful in the golden light of the morning. The snow glittered like as if diamonds had been spread on the ground and here and there Tamlin could see gaping holes of blue, blue ice that reflected the sun’s rays in all the colored of the rainbow. The more he thought about it the more he felt like this was the perfect place for the children of Mauja to meet - this environment seemed to be in their genes. And still he longed for and missed World’s Edge where he’d been born. Fucking featherbrains and hornless - barging in and destroying it all. He hated them so much!

The anger took over the black colt’s fear and soon he’d forgotten about the lurking ice-beast that was just waiting for an opportunity to swallow him whole. Instead he started to really look around to try and find Snö.

"Hey sis, where are you?" he called, his breath turning into white mist around his velvety muzzle. Winter was coming - there was no doubt about that.

[ooc; Hope it's ok I said she woke him up :D]

Snö's ears flickered, catching vague, distant sound. Tamlin. She had woken him so swiftly and unexpectedly this morning- she was somewhat surprised he had actually followed her. Maybe he was more brave than she thought, a fact which she might respect. Or he might be just be stupid, romping out here in the middle of winter when he hardly knew her. How old was he anyways? One year, eight months? The varnish mare wrinkled her muzzle slightly. Snö was nearing three years, come this Birdsong. At this moment, she was two and a half. It was a strange thought, thinking that in just two more years she would truly be an adult, one whose word would be respected as it should be. And who knew, maybe she would be something even more important than just an adult...

"Tamlin!" Snö calls softly, shutting her eyelids slowly, the wind no doubt carrying her voice back to him. Slowly, casually, she moves towards the dark blur in the distance, light-footed over the abysses beneath her feet, fearless and bold-hearted. Nothing could stop her from achieving her dreams, and that single thought lightened her chest and gave her the slightest of smirks, the curl of the right side of her mouth. Soon enough Snö is close to him, the indistinct darkness with a patch missing gradually coming clearer. He is dark, ebony, so sharp and clear-cut against the snow. It is as if heavy snow has settled over his hindquarters, and his tail is as creamy as Snö's white. His horn, too, is covered lightly in frost, frost that gleams dully and softly. Mostly, Snö notices how he has filled out, the broad chest and big barrel, muscled neck and strong, slim legs, hardened muscle from his travels, wherever he had been. For a long, critical moment his sister looks him up and down, scrutinizing him, trying to find her father in him, and maybe, a little bit of herself. The black coat must've been inherited from whatever slut birthed him, but his medium build was more like hers.

"Are you brave Tamlin?" Snö asks, drawing a little closer, careful where she puts her feet. Her smirk widens slightly, into a slightly more natural smile. "You must be brave to live up to our father, little brother. You cannot shame our King today or tomorrow or in a year, even if one day we will rise above him." Still Snö comes a little closer, finally halting a good three feet away, pale clouds of smoke twirling up from her nostrils as she inhales and exhales the frigid air of the Steppe. "We are born of royal blood- prove yourself, Tam. Run on the edge of the abyss, and do not fall." I am royal-blooded. You are a whore's son, but let that be forgotten as we play bloody games.

The wind picked up and it bore with it a voice he knew. His name sounded eerie in the wind - almost like Snö had become a ghost, but the illusion vanished as he caught sight of his sister coming towards him. She looked like she didn’t have a care in the world and like she felt as safe here on the hazardous glacier as she did on flat ground.

He would never admit it, but he was glad to see her and glad that she looked so confident. It lulled him into a more or less false sense of safely - but he felt safe nonetheless.

When she reached him he smiled at her and met her blue gaze. "Snö! I am so happy to see you. You know when I was a kid I didn’t think you liked me, I mean I have no memory from my birth, but people said you weren’t there and we never played or something. But I guess with the invasion and everything that happened there wasn’t much time for us to be foals you know and-"

”Are you brave Tamlin?”

He was cut short by her question and his sense of safety was drained from his body like he was a wet piece of cloth someone twisted and squeezed the water from. It was something in the way she said it. Her smile was normal enough, but he thought he heard a sinister undertone in her voice.

He watched her varnished body as she came closer and suddenly her pale frame wasn’t so heartwarmingly familiar. The way she moved had him regret him even coming here and when she continued speaking and moving like a snake ready to strike Tamlin even shivered a bit. Her words were uttered calmly and with ease, but her whole demeanor scared the dark yearling something terrible. It must have been because he wasn’t prepared to feel threatened by someone he considered family and maybe because the prospect of betrayal was something that he feared deeply.

Unknowingly he’d leaned away as she came closer, but even though fear was gripping at his mind he still heard a voice saying that this was his sister and that she loved him and wouldn’t want to hurt him. But she can if she want. She is bigger and stronger - she is almost fully grown. the fear in him insisted. Still Tamlin didn’t want to believe that Snö really was trying to get him in trouble and then the only possible explanation was that her words were just a simple, terrifying truth - that he had to prove himself as a son of Mauja. Snö was older than him so she should know, right? He could trust her words, couldn’t he?

The confusion held him frozen in place and in his eyes his feelings were clearly visible. There was no trace of the spoiled, confident brat in Tamlin’s dark face - it was only the face of a young boy in doubt, unease and confusion.

"But Snö," he said in a weak voice. "what if I do fall?"

He spoke in a great rush like the untried child he was, the words melting together in one haphazard flood to her ears, the words so ignoble and crass to hear. Snö winced slightly, ears flicking back to pin to silver skull, bile rising in her throat. How she wished he had never returned from his journeying, never come to steal away Mauja's affections. Still she affixed a delicate smile, almost simpering but not quite, upon her pretty satin face and interrupted the vocal tirade lobbing itself at her cute chestnut ears. There was no time to waste listening to a nattering babe, and it would be best if they could run along and get what needed to be done over with rather than hanging about. He smiled at her however, and Snö shifted a touch uneasily, wary of such things. And when had other said such about her? Actually, the way he was talking made her feel a great deal more self-conscious then she would have believed.

He shuddered, and it was as if Snö had suddenly been doused in freezing sleet upon her skin, and her smile faded from her face. She came closer, wondering at this little seed of warmth in her, wondering when it had been planted, and reached out brush the skin of his ears gently, pulling at his forelock with teeth yellowing from grazing, careful to avoid stabbing herself upon his small frosted horn. This, in terms of sisterly affection, was as if she had begun flying. But the coldness quickly ate away at the warmth, and she stepped back, eyes stern upon his.

"You. Will. Not. Fall. Why? Because you are my half-brother, and Mauja's son." Snö spoke with such absolute confidence- there was not even an inkling of doubt. Her bosom grew in size as she inhaled, drawing herself taller in pride, until she seemed to glow with power that only enhanced her beauty and strength. Snö was glorious against the whispering snow and the fractures in the ice. "If you do... I will grab you by the neck and drag you to safety, little brother." A slightly condescending tone entered her voice as she looked down on him. As if to prove the ease of the job she had set him, she begun to trot along the edge of a crevice five feet wide and incountable many deep, keeping a foot away. "Don't stray too close to the edge, however, because the snow may crumble under your feet, or it may be too slippery. But don't fear." The trot turned to canter, to swift-legged gallop over the crumbling, shifting ground, and then she spun around, hooves digging in for a grip, launching herself with great leaps back towards him.

The air was cold and crisp on her heaving lungs as she skidded to a breathless halt, eyes twinkling almost merrily from the physical exertion. She tossed her head gracefully. "See, it's easy!"

Snö wondered what Mauja would say to her about bringing baby Tamlin into such a perilous situation.

The way her mood and expression shifted confused the yearling, he began to think that maybe he was way off in his interpretation of her movement and words. Maybe he had just been gripped by the cold and the frightening task that she had put before him? Yes, that must have been the case because when she touched him and smiled she didn’t look so cold anymore and his confidence in her love for him rose once more. It was clear to him now that she neither expected him nor wanted him to fall to his death. He felt safe again with her by his side.

Amazed he watched her dance with the monster that was the glacier. Her sure footing and the way she stared death in the eye without flinching had him real impressed and his jaw even dropped in disbelief. How was she so brave? He himself had traveled far and wide and sure it lay braveness in such an feat, but he was a bit ashamed to admit even to himself that his travel, no matter how long and tiring, had been pretty easy. It had been just a few times were he’d been in any real danger.

The cold wind embraced the yearling and his mind drifted to Aviya. If she’d been hear with him, Tamlin knew that his will to impress her would have greatly suppressed his fear of the gaping mouths of the glacier. Even the thought of her white face and smoky body gave him a bit of strength and as Snö pranced back towards him he swallowed his unease and gazed at his sister with a new, confident look in his eyes. Her varnished frame came to a stop before him and Tamlin vowed silently to never show weakness before her again. He wanted her to be proud of him - almost as much as he wanted Mauja to be.

"Okay, let’s do this!" he spoke and flashed a smile.

He darted past her and in a series of bucks he started up the side of the crevice. He snorted loudly and the sound traveled down in the blue shimmering pit - echoed like there were a hundred bucking colts about. He didn’t keep as close to the edge as Snö had, but when he didn’t fall his confidence grew bigger and with a challenging whinny directed towards his sister he continued in a straight line - deeper into the hazardous icy landscape.

He galloped over hills of snow, danced around big and small cervices, he even took to jumping over one of the really small ones. And all the while his confidence grew and as it did he ventured closer and closer to the edges of the glimmering pits. He didn’t think a second that the danger of this place was so real that if he kept playing with it he would eventually get burned - it was just a matter of time.

"This is great fun, sis! I can’t understand why I was so afraid at first!" the colt exclaimed and looked back at Snö. "Let’s race with the devil - shall we?!"

I am languid and fluid in my grace, so charmingly at ease, and I am almost a cat, all melted bone that hardly has form, so flexible and easy. Even as I return my attention to my little half-sibling, the movement is supple and exquisite with boundless beauty. For a moment I preen over myself at the thought of my limber body, the way I run and leap with snow in my mane and my sparkling blue eyes, and I laugh, joyful beyond belief. The wind is my partner in crime, combing back my mane in lush waves.

I am even more dangerous than I am beautiful, however.

I turn my head, blink shut long white lashes over liquid blue eyes, open them, my voice a touch short of breath. Again I laugh at his amazement and wonder, the slack-mouthed expression of a toad upon his dark face, so demeaning to what could be handsomeness. Yet suddenly I freeze, retreating, almost disgusted. He is not handsome. He is but a half-ling, and I should care for him less. But when he leaps with me, I cannot deny he grows on me, even if an ugly wart appearing on my beauty- he is braver than he thinks, and I cannot deny that fact, unfortunately.

I am dismayed at this feeling, this feeling nearing pride in my glacial heart as he leaps on the edge of death. But still I grin gorgeously and dance alongside him, a dance with death.

"Yes!" I cry out, and with a single smile, I race forward, the wind howling in my ears and tearing at my eyes.

Let us run until we drop!