Her awakening came quickly, and rudely. She was bitterly cold and wet, too, which only made the chill of Tinuval all the more vicious. It was the first thing she knew about this world, and already, she was offended! Then came the soft wuffle of her mother’s voice, followed by the gentle tickles of her whiskers and velvet lips. This sensation was only brief, however. She pulled away, only to whimper and cry with labor pains. They were all too familiar to her little ears if only not quite so muted now, and soon enough, another joined her. This one, she recognized immediately.
The blue and white slashed mare would have finally obeyed the commands of her instincts to tend to the tiny little lives she’d created, a tenderness in her heart and a warmth in her eyes she didn’t realize existed before. The entire ordeal, from the first time her little blue eyes opened to the first time she stood, fed, and the first words she’d heard -- Akulu and Asana -- two hours had lapsed. The journey into this world had been long, trialing, and exhausting.
She and her twin, Asana, had been born under the cover of night and slept until the sounds of the breeze, the distant rolling of waves, and singing crickets had given way to the chirping of birds and the occasional buzz of an insect of some sort. She had woken long before her mother, and her little heart was eager to explore this bright new world. It felt like a dreamscape, and unlike in her dreams, it felt… Real… The ground was hard underfoot, and the morning mist carried with it the scent of many things: The first and foremost was that of the evergreens that surrounded them, and the undertones of the sea.
On legs that were more certain now than they had been mere hours ago, little Akulu stood from her huddled position aside Asana and her blue dam and would walk away. She wasn’t sure where she was going -- but she was eager to take in all that there was to see.
The earth was solid enough to feel hard, but soft enough (mostly) that her feet weren’t entirely unstable. That was, until she hit a stone and staggered, only to quickly catch herself from very narrowly smacking her little chest against the ground. She was like a little shadow, moving through the thicket of trees and low-hanging branches; Akulu’s form was a solid black that seemed to swallow the light, leaving only a faint halo of dappled gold from the morning light that spilled through the canopy that seemed so much taller than it was. The entirety of her body was black, save for the little patch of white near the bend of her thigh.
But then a most curious creature caught her attention. The ground disappeared into a soft-looking green substance, but there, upon one of the blades that sprouted from the ground was perched a grasshopper. Her ears pointed forward with interest. They were large, and had a faint curvature inward; a hereditary gift from the stallion who’d sired her. But that would be a discussion for later. As any curious foal would, she extends her head to touch the creature with her nose -- she’s not even sure if she touches it before it flutters away with a quick, sharp zipping sort of noise. The abruptness and rough texture of its carapace startled her, and her head would draw back with a very sudden, baby squeal.
It was exactly the sudden jolt she needed to look up and ahead of herself, to note the open and bright meadow that stretched out before her. She didn’t hesitate to step forward into the more bold and bright daylight. The grasshopper became nothing more than a jarring experience, as nothing bad had happened after it fled her. She sees movement on the horizon that seems so much further to her than it was in actuality. She knows little reason to fear anyone other than her mother, and so naivety played its role in the filly’s lack of desire to run and hide. Instead, she stays put and curiously observes.
Âkulu - Filly - Mutt - Black Overo - Fell x Bluechild - Glory