She felt as though she was beginning to forget her mother's face. Liat had always assumed that her mother was beautiful and kind, but as days wore on to weeks, and weeks into months, it seemed as though she would never see her mother again. It would have enraged her to think that she was so easily forgotten, and that her mother was off frolicking with some stallion, perhaps having more babies and being able to love them without having to worry about their safety at every turn... but Liat was not a bitter soul. Instead she had begun to amuse herself with things to pass her time in the inlet.

At first, it had been the great snow that came with the winter, blotting out the sky and making the world around her smell and taste cold. The white concoction had fallen in droves that day, and when she had woken the next morning, there was nothing to be seen but a great white all around her. The trees had been coated and the coast was white, right up to where it met the water, and only there did she glimpse the slightest hint of colours- of brown -gray that had been uncovered by the rushing ocean tide. Then, with the turn of spring, she soon became enthralled with the idea of there being other children around- no doubt a good many months younger than her, but she knew that with new life would come a hustle and bustle of activity, and that perhaps Liat would be permitted to gently play with the new ones.

Still, though, the inlet remained somewhat unpopulated by children, and Liat was left with little to entertain herself with, as the flurries of snow had begun to slow to the soft crumbling of the clouds over heard.

The snowfall today was somewhat lethargic, with only a few snowflakes here and there tumbling down from the sky. Soon there would be no snow, and still the inlet would remain bitterly cold all through the summer months. Though she waited eagerly for the return of the sun, she knew well that her skin would remain thick and golden, if only a little patchy through the summer months. Standing in the middle of a small clearing, the girl had turned her white-striped face towards the sky and seemed to be praying for the sun to come out. As much as the sudden relent of snow had brightened her day, she would have loved very much for the sun to break free from the thick layout of white-grey clouds that blanketed the sky for her to bask in the warmth.

It seemed to be hours that she stood there, her eyes eventually closing as she waited faithfully for the sun to return, as it always did. Perhaps, she reasoned silently to herself in the little opening, perhaps the sun was her true mother, and the perlino creature that had abandoned her had left her here to stand under the great wide sky, her skin the same colour as the sun and her hair as dark as the night. Surely that was it- and it certainly explained why she had been so dark in colour compared to her mother. Yes, it only made sense, as her father was the shade of the late afternoon sky, then her mother had to be the great golden globe soaring so high above her head. That seemed to put her at ease a little bit.