There was nothing left to stop her, wrapped in wonder lust and the cold tendrils of the winter that curled around her pale body, the gray mare breathed, enjoying the pain the air caused when it filled her lungs. Bruising, agonizing, but terribly wonderful. From where she stood, a meadow blanketed in snow lay out before her, the horizon was barely peeking through the thick curtain of grey that loomed over head. The snow, as white as her own coat, seemed to glisten, as if the stars had been crushed and dusted on the earth.

“Fuss, Fuss, Sweet pea, You are safe for now.”

The voice that breaks cloak of silence, is hushed, but the soft chirping notes reach her ears just fine. Hidden and cocooned in a knot of her ashy pale mane was Avery. The small brilliantly colored hummingbird was an unlikely companion. A companionship that she couldn’t put into words, even if she could utter them. At first his presence seemed to be nothing more than an intriguing passing of strangers, but the longer he stayed…strangely. The better she felt. Blessed hadn’t felt well for a long while.

With his voice softly chirping in her ear, she felt stronger…bolder. And that, for her was enough.
Won’t you come out of there, Avery? Nothing left her lips, and yet the bird just quietly chirped. “No, No. Sweet pea, I’m plenty warm, right here.” The muscles of her neck wriggled, ticklish to the feel of Avery’s tiny clawed feet and he shifted his weight.

Poking his head between the soft tendrils of her main, his glossy eyes peered into the predawn light and the winter world that lay out before them. So pristine. “Lovely, Lovely…” He says, untangling himself from her mane one strand at a time. “I think you should ruin it.” he tells her, huffing his body into an emerald ball of feathers as the wind rubs against them.

Without waiting for her to respond, the bird takes flight. His wings flutter so quickly his movements send a loud hum through the desolate air. For a split second the mare his frozen, unsure if she could follow the bright green speck that hovered through the horizon, but soon the little avian gives her no choice as he zooms back and around her head. “Snow is pretty, Sweet Pea, but It melts.” He tells her, zipping into the meadow. Live in the moment. That’s what he wanted from her. To live.

Taking a deep breath, she wills her wet limbs to move, and soon, she’s plowing through the wet snow, breaking it’s untouched surface. Her lungs ache as she forces herself to breath, but for the moment, she’s flying, breaking the wet clouds that have fallen from the sky to the earth, chasing after the brilliant green beacon until she can’t will herself to move any further.

Without warning, the gray mute drops to the ground, her lips split into a childish grin as she rolls, coating herself in a blanket of snow like a filly. Her mouth is open, and yet the only one who can hear her laughing is one tiny little bird. This is what it it feels like to be free. How could she have missed this? But quickly the laughter is broken, when a rippling cough shivers out of her chest. Strange how the air cold be so cold and yet burn her so badly from the inside out. She can taste the rusty tang of blood long before she can smell it. Laying still across the snowy carpet, she realizes, that she has stained the snow red. Panic rushes her in waves, causing her chest to rise and fall almost as quickly as Avery’s wings beat the air. But the bird is the first to recover.

“It’s okay, Sweet pea.” He tells her, letting his small body float to the ground, his tiny claws fluff the snow around the tainted spot, as if to hide the stain. Yes. He wanted her to live…live in the moment, because she was dying.

Shaking it off Blessed stumbles to her hooves. Tilting her head back she curls her lips back to the falling snow as it floated from the sky, she was torn between wanting to play like a youngling, and wanting to get the taste of blood out of her mouth. How could this freedom taste so bitter sweet?

BlessedA Humming Bird Needs No Voice

Wordless. Selfless. Shy



Charmer of the small.