Fatigue was settling deep into her bones. Every beat to keep her relatively aloft felt like she was drawing her body through a mire. Her muscles ached, her shoulders burned, and her consciousness wavered. The last island she had rested on had been filled with wolves, but her stomach had begged for the sparse blades of grass poking through the dunes. She had seen them creep upon one of the sandy dunes, their tales flicking eagerly, moist pink tongues licking their fangs and lips. They bolted after her, only several mouthfuls in, and she defended themselves. They were thin, obviously starving since prey had avoided their small area of sand dunes, but had the numbers. While she could beat or scare off two with her hooves, one always managed to get behind her. Several times the striker managed to slink in from behind, take a satisfying nip - sometimes bite - at her hind legs, before she could kick them away. They were superficial, nothing to be too worried about, but they'd need washing. One particular kick had landed her hoof in the under jaw of the strike, the wolf yelping in pain and running off. Another one, a distractor, managed to lurch forward and sink it's teeth into her right foreleg. Aloy had bellowed from her own pain, but used her other hoof to beat at the wolf's back.
They backed off, and the pegasus took flight. Now here she was, watching the distant land grow in size. "Thank the Sacred it's not another island..." Her mind sputtered. Adjusting her grip on the winds, she arched to slowly descend.
Snow laden, the air was as frigid as some of the more temperate days back in No'orvik. She was not entirely unaccustomed to such a thing, but this would make finding herbs for her throbbing fore difficult. Aloy had used her last spars days ago, and hadn't been on islands with nearly enough vegetation to support the kind of medicinal herbs she needed. "What was the saying?" She through, but it eluded her exhausted mind. All that truly mattered now was reaching those snowy fields. Another rotation of her massive wings seemed to rip the muscles in her shoulders and back asunder, grimacing through the pain. She was almost there now... getting closer... and closer.
Her legs extended to catch herself, hooves ready to pound into the frozen grounds and catch her descent with trained grace. But her injured leg bowed beneath her, tumbling her into the thicket of snow. She pulled her wings into her form as best she could for protection, but her legs flailed as she tumbled over herself. One final spin brought her to a jagged halt, her body losing all of it's gained momentum. Steam poured from her nostrils in gulping breaths as she lay in the show, a jagged scar etched into the field behind her. For a moment she just let herself lay there, lay there breath. The air was crisp with the grip of winter, and it stung her overworked lungs. Mustering it, she pulled herself upright, extending her injured leg with a hiss escaping her clenched teeth. The beaded throng that had her dreaded mane collected had fallen into the grace, and once her cerulean eyes saw it, she snatched at it, throwing it around her shoulders. Eye twitching, calling for her soft telekinesis, she tied it there to keep from losing it again, then extended the arcana to her mane where - ah, yes, it hadn't fallen. Her brush. Aloy let out a heaving sigh, her body uncoiling from the tension - so much so, it hurt to relax.
Those big blues flicked this way and that, wondering just how long she had to rest here...
wc: 623
tag: @Name
ooc: Open for IC convincing to stay with the Dawn Court!
