Akeli  The festival is spinning and churning beneath strings of light, with fire illuminating all of the dark spaces inbetween. Laughter fills the air, jubilant cries and warm voices cutting easily through the crisp fall evening. Bodies dance around a large bonfire, and she watches keenly from the sidelines, the golden glow from the flames tracing her sculpted face and illuminating the edges of her wings with an ethereal sheen. A small chorus has joined in, their lyrics and music calling to her, and with a joyous laugh she leaps into the dance, turning and prancing and shifting her wings in a graceful attempt to match the tempo surrounding her. There have been few times she has found such happiness, though this may be the most exuberant feeling she has ever experienced. As the light reflects upon the silken sheen of her coat, she seems to glow, all glistening dapples and neatly preened feathers. She is just growing into herself, leaving behind the lanky awkwardness of youth and joining the other yearlings in their new-found swan bodies. Akeli has found peace here, and though she thinks often of her family, most of all Ktulu, she prays that perhaps her adoptive mother is also enjoying the beauty of the night, wherever she may be. As they all spin wildly beneal Caligo's beautiful night, the tongues of flame and flying embers play with the girl's vision. Within the fire she sees the swelling of tides, towering trees. She sees a phoenix flapping glorious wings, she sees a bear, she sees a unicorn mare. She closes her glinting amber eyes and tosses her crowned head, pulling her mind away from the captivating fire's pull, and she continues to dance until her sides are heaving and her cheeks ache from smiling. She spins upon graceful heels, turning away from the group, and as she does the light burned into her retinas still hold the shape of a mare with a blood-stained horn and a warrior's heart. She steps free, moving away from the pack with a graceful highstep, and the air cools the further she gets from the flames towards the form, the illusion, that the fire still plays for her. Her breathing slows, and suddenly her ears are perked, golden eyes wide, and her wings clap anxiously against her sides as they had so many seasons ago when she had first seen the woman who would raise her. A smile then, slowly creeps upon her face, and at first she says nothing, simply watching, waiting, praying this isn't just a trick of the light. When her mouth finally opens, it is a wish she breathes out, hoping it's really true. "Tootaloo?" |
@Ktulu <3
