Sleeping.

I seemed to do a lot of this sleeping. Mother said it was important to rest when one's body was weary. When I was awake, I felt so full of energy all the time - the fatigue struck me down suddenly, and before I knew it, slumber and dreams had taken me to worlds far away. Mother always seemed to know when this would happen, for we always seemed to return to the Oasis, surrounded by our friends and family, where my limbs would fold beneath me and under her watchful gaze I would fall to sleep. I dreamed of curious things, of fire and darkness dancing together, like the great pillar that lighted our home shooting to the heavens above. Mother often mentioned this thing called the Sun. She said it was like the Moon that always watches over us now, only it burned like fire. I had never seen such a thing, and imaging it was difficult. I was born under this so-called darkness, and with nothing but the moonlight to guide me, I found my eyes able to see details that others complained were taken from them without this Sun to illuminate their vision. My dreams contained nothing but moonlight, sometimes shrouded by burning balls of fire, for that is all I could imagine when Mother spoke of the Sun.

I awoke with a shiver. My petite crown lifted from where it laid upon my folded forelegs, a yawn stretching my dark muzzle wide. A snort left my nostrils as I peered about me, curious as to the whereabouts of my mother. Scrambling to my feet, I shook the sand that clung to my pale hide, flicking my dual toned bottlebrush tail from side to side as my dark, cocoa eyes took in the various shapes of familiars around me. But mother wasn't amongst them. Before anyone could object, I made my way swiftly towards the open sands of our home, stretching my wings beside me as I ran, enjoying the feeling of wind passing through the pale feathers. They were not yet big enough to carry me in flight, and I wasn't yet co-ordinated enough to figure that out yet anyhow. But I could at least run, and fly in my own way. I headed towards the wall of our home, for that was often where I found one or both of my parents. Father spent a long time flying over the borders, and mother spent time staring at the wall she said she had started when the Gods were here. It was the Sun God who gave her power, but with him gone, there was nothing much she could do but stare at the unfinished work.

As I approached the border, I could see her petite, ivory frame outlined by the shadow of the wall behind her, seemingly glowing in the moonlight. Nearby, there is another, smaller and wingless being - I vaguely remember her face, her cerulean eyes peering down at me the first time I ever breathed outside of my mother's womb. I sung out to them both, happily flapping my wings as I did so, not realising the speed I was gaining in my excitement. I took a leap, only, it was at the wrong time - my wings soon became tangled, seemingly on nothing, on air, and the sand in front of me soon slapped me in the face. I was barely a few strides away from mother. A few moments of general flailing, with wings jutting out at awkward angles and limbs digging trenches in the sand, and my little tiara stuck upwards, a sneeze leaving my nose. I blinked, once, twice, before simply staring up at the pale beings nearby, sheepishly grinning at my clumsiness.