aurora -----
by covet out of raya
Today is a big milestone for Aurora: she’s going to wander by herself, no companion with her to safeguard against the chance of her sight disappearing again. She’d spent the night on her own, having lost track of Bob and Talya earlier in the day. This is a new day and she wants to prove to herself that she doesn’t always need a buffer.
She has to wait until the right time, until the sun is high enough that it won’t increase the pain in her eyes. Winter has helped to water down the strength of the rays and it works well with the canopy above to keep the majority of the light out. That, however, causes the issue of there barely being enough light to actually see. For someone who has enough of a problem with that, it’s a little worrisome.
She snorts as she ambles on, her white-flecked golden body weaving between trees with increasing confidence. For all she has joked about running into trees, she’d spent her youth bumping into things frequently before getting a handle on the best times for her to move about. She has no desire now to let the Forest get the better of her…Talya for one would never let her hear the end of it.
As the cold has slowly encroached, less and less wildlife has been easy to spot. She can still hear the occasional rustle of the undergrowth and once in a while she catches a whistle from the high branches, but it is a bit spooky with nobody beside her. She shakes her head, letting her creamy tresses fall unevenly across her neck; they’ll get snagged on something eventually so there’s no point in trying to keep them orderly. Besides, why would she care about how rugged she looks? It’s not like there’s anybody for her to impress.
Then again, she thinks as she comes to an abrupt halt, perhaps there will be. She has heard the familiar sound of crunching footfalls in the distance. The leaves that had fallen during autumn only add to the volume of what can only be more than one visitor. The voices are farther away than she would have expected given how loud their steps are so her apprehension isn’t as high as it would have been if they’d come across her. Instead, she’ll be able to control how she reveals herself.
She takes a deep breath and heads in their direction, praying that her eyesight won’t worsen. She already blinks more often than most to stave off blurry vision due to excessively watery eyes. No need to add to the appearance that something’s wrong with her. She nickers as she gets closer, though she doubts they’ll have missed her footsteps, which are just as obvious as theirs.
She cuts across an overgrown path and suddenly there they are, two identical figures moving toward her on one of the territory’s most prominent trails. She lets them get closer, her body alert but not unfriendly. Bob probably wouldn’t like the idea of her greeting these strangers on her own, although she figures he’d prefer it be her rather than his daughter. Talya would certainly steal the show, but she can also be overwhelming in her exuberance.
”Hello there,” she greets calmly, looking from one to the other as her nostrils flare. If her sense of smell was as bad as her eyesight, she wouldn’t be able to tell them apart, but the scent of one male and one female prove that there are actually two of them. ”I’m Aurora, welcome to the Forest.” They don’t give her the impression that they’ve been here before but she figures she’d better check. ”Are you here to see anyone specific?”
three - palomino roan - mixed - 15.2hh - the forest |