The black mare flicks her ears back, momentarily confused. "You do not care to carry your full name? It fits you like a crown," she says, her voice silky. "Surely such a title must belong to royalty?" The girl is radiant, a mixture of white and gold offset by brilliant sapphire eyes, not yet grown into her full feminine potential. But oh, the potential is there.
Ak Burun sees it, longs to coax it forth and see it bloom. This girl could decree how the world turns with beauty such as hers, and the ‘Teke would bear witness such a feat willingly with only the slenderest spinning of a spider’s web strung between them, responsive to her very pulse. Ak Burun does not see it as asking for too much.
"It sounds as if this Tinuvel is too crowded for one such as you. Family and babies and the brood all jostling for attention, crowding a sapling like yourself out of the light." Her sparse tail flicks over her narrow haunches, and the black mare offers the girl another practiced smile. "The strongest trees do not grow in the shade."
Then she inclines her head in a grave nod. "I am Ak Burun," she introduces herself. "Much like you, I have come here to find the sun." |