V A L E

THE STARS IGNITE

Streaks of pale saffron and warm apricot were slowly infringing upon the deep periwinkle blue of the sky, signaling the beginning of dawn and the sun’s slow rise to glory. The golden, hay-like grasses of Eluetheria were heavy with thawing dew; the night’s crisp air was slowly heating to a refreshing climate indicative of spring. The deep emerald conifer trees surrounding the plains were littered with deciduous trees whose leaves were only starting to sprout again.

The rays of the sun flashed against amethyst feathers, revealing the mare standing halfway beneath the shade of an evergreen, and halfway exposed within the long strands of grass that sashayed against her ivory limbs. Thick hair unbound, it waved lazily on the morning breeze, shrouding her observant gaze with the wind’s every change of direction. The fiery appendages extending past the length of her wings behaved similarly, small tufts of feathers chafing against each other. Her mismatched eyes were unfocused even as they gazed out at the land before her, her mind quite obviously ruminating elsewhere.

She was far from the tranquility and security of the Night Court. Her pensive wanderings had eventually brought her to the free land between Delumine and Solterra, two kingdoms she had yet to visit and familiarize herself with. No matter where she traveled or what company she kept, her thoughts kept straying back to the memory of flames against her flesh, to the ghost of a stallion painted with midnight and stars. Her thoughts kept betraying her.

With a frustrated stamp of her bronzed hoof, she broke into a sudden gallop, brows furrowing in determination almost as if she could outrun her past. Her large wings stretched to their full potential, the sun reflecting against the deep hue of her feathers. She didn’t take flight; she had only desired the feel of freedom between each plume, the power beneath her hooves as they threw up the fragile dirt of a new season. With her attention on her grounded flight, her mind emptied. She became a part of the land, not a creature haunted by the loss of love, the deceit of family, or the burden of prestigious titles.

The distant sound of thunder brought the mare skidding to a halt, hooves kicking up a cloud of dust. Her salmon-stained muzzle softened into a smile as she pinpointed the source of the disturbance; the burly brown bodies of a herd of bison now occupied the opposite end of Eluetheria. Pricking her ears, she let out a rather undignified snort, signaling her presence to the ungulates and to any other creature currently roaming the expansive plains.