and I heard 'em say

nothings ever promised tomorrow today

Softly the wind caresses her fur, rifling through the fine tresses with abandon as the girl tilts her face to the sun. Basking within its internal warmth she rests, solid and still as a statue. Rough tongue sweeps out to taste her ivory lips, reveling in her sweet victory, her hard won freedom. Never had she felt so alive, so unfettered and here she spends her first day in months in frozen thrall, unable to move lest she shatter the moment. Gently, a fuchsia hued petal floats from the heavens, released from its roughened bark to grace the currents. As if caught in the gentle waves of a river it sways, back and forth before alighting upon the girls ochre snout. Hesitantly, she inhales the delicate fragrance a smile finally breaking upon her virgin lips. It is then that she feels the tingle, the soft tickling that furiously blossoms within her nose before exploding forth in the form of a massive sneeze. The watery gale shooting the flower from her body and into the air, her head dipping as if to clear her mind and nose of the force; her eyes watering as she lifts her lids, unaware of ever closing them. Perhaps they slid shut during the sneeze, or was it when she was enjoying the soft perfume of the flower…she does not recall.

The spell is broken, and with it comes a loss as reality comes crashing back down. She longs to return to that magical place where she found the flowered tree, but alas she can not. With one final shake of her head she lays, tucking her legs just right so that she can still peer at her surroundings. Sharp emerald optics scan her immediate surroundings, noting the way amethyst and azure bleed above, breaking down to pink in some places. Casualties of the war day and night wages each dusk and dawn, she ponders before sweeping her haunting eyes back down to the lush emerald sea she is settled within. Mind whispers to her, that she is not safe beneath one of the few scattered trees within the meadow but she does not stir; cannot fathom leaving this small sliver of salvation, this piece of beauty after so much distress. Her paws no longer ache from travel, her body no longer thin with travel yet it still left more to be desired. In no way did she carry the bulk that she needed but she did not complain. No, she never complained.

Lush tail curls around her, offering more heat and comfort as she lingers beneath the shade of the tree. Warmth that she didn’t need but took for the bite of spring was melting away. Instead the sun beamed hotter and longer with each passing day and she could not help but resent it. Resent the way the rays found her and with her natural thick coat elevated her temperature. Radars swivel upon her crown, catching a soft thud like that of a pawfall, yet nothing assaulted her nostrils. A rodent perhaps? Even as she thought it a trickle of fear shot through her veins, causing her to hold herself rigid. These lands were unclaimed, no wolf should take offense to her simple presence, yet past dictated that she move, that she flee as soon as possible before they laid eyes upon her. Before they deem her unworthy of breath, and as these thoughts raced through her mind she could not move, only lie and stare.