Falls

The girl shivered, her thin brown coat little protection against the early winter's chill. She had washed ashore some days ago and sheltered in the first small alcove she could find. She had immediately set to furiously rubbing as much of the ocean water from her skin as possible in the feeble hope that it would alleviate the sudden temperature shock. When she had set out from home, she hadn't imagined that the ocean would be warmer than her destination, and yet she could not argue otherwise now. Not when small icicles had begun to form on the blonde tendrils of her mane, nor when her breath plumed from her chocolatey muzzle with each breath.

It was not all bad though. The Atlantean filly found the snow to be delightful, as long as it wasn't touching her. She liked the way that it fell lazily through the air sometimes in whimsical patterns that she could watch for hours, and she liked the way the trees grew beards of glittering ice that tinkled merrily when she broke them. Even the way that every single step through the snow was visible seemed to delight her after living so long in a land where a threat could stand inches away and still be unseen.

The snow had mostly melted yesterday in a strange show of warmth that Roux had gladly welcomed, and she had begun to wonder if her mother's stories of winter were largely exaggerated. Surely if one only had to endure a few days of chill to experience the wonder of snowfall it couldn't be nearly as dangerous as Sonorae had implied.

And then the sun had risen this morning on a day as quiet and dreary and bitterly cold as any that the silver girl had ever experienced. Even without snow to dampen her heels or gust about her face, the weather stole every shred of heat she managed to gain. Wind gusted across her slender figure and drove the chill straight into her bones as if desperate to erase Atlantis from her blood. Wonder turned quickly to misery, and Roux had begun to head straight for the ocean with every intention of swimming straight back home to the warm sandy beaches she remembered when a firm voice spoke up from somewhere nearby.

"You do what?" She queried curiously, picking her way toward the speaker. Roux was a social creature entirely unlike her mother and sister; she had been precocious even as a foal. She'd made it her business to wander about underfoot of everyone that called Paradise home in order to garner as much of their attention as she could. With the added benefit of having two parents to love and cherish her, she'd grown up fearing very little, despite her mother's best attempts to caution her about the world.

As she came close enough to lay her deep-emerald gaze on the spotted filly, she drew to a halt with her blazed face cocked inquisitively. She did not know that the girl that stood before her was her half-sister, nor of the drama that surrounded her exile on the Crossing. As far as Roux was concerned, she was a pretty-looking stranger that looked far too sad to be alone.

Frowning softly, she took a step forward and extended her muzzle in a peace-making gesture. She did not know if this mare was friend or foe, but she did know that she wanted to find out why she looked as if someone had kicked a puppy right in front of her. "You look sad...Did someone hurt you?"

maresilver baylove