![[Image: osiheader.jpg]](https://image.ibb.co/nFaF1w/osiheader.jpg)
The first kiss of spring brought a yielding smile to Ossian's elfish face, dark lips curling to meet the cries of newborn gulls and warmer currents on the breeze. Spring by the sea was nothing but a gift to the boy, for in those first tender weeks it seemed as though every sense might just be stimulated by something newer than yesterday. The shells seemed to glitter brighter in the pale sunlight, and the sea seemed to hum a tune that he had grown to love over the course of his short, uneventful life.
It was a gossamer afternoon, and the light from a dying sun cast the beach in a haze of chrome and gold; the final act had begun. Of course, Ossian was here: it was rare to find him anywhere else. After his first week in Novus (a week spent beneath the grandiose roof of a white-walled castle) the charcoal boy found himself, unsurprisingly, tied to the shore - dancing back to the only place he had ever called home, the place he had met Cyrene. Novus' waterfront was not Ama's, but it was close enough - without the sound of the water lulling against the dark, Ossi found it almost impossible to sleep.
Upon long diaphanous limbs, Ossian floated, the stark frothy white of his endless hair swaying with his every movement, the damp ends tracing shapes in the sand behind his hooves. The golden compass hanging loose around his neck swung rhythmically from side to side, and upon the wings of a sweet thought the boy smiled as he relished the familiarity of its cool beat against his skin; never again would he relinquish it from sight. The same avid protection was given the precious assortment of shells chiming amongst his hair, woven between string and the bleached strands of his mane - a perpetual reminder of Ama.
Humming quietly to himself, Ossi drew to a steady walk, pacing closer to the lapping water. As he stood, ankle-deep, in the shallows, the scent of another man came seeping in upon a swell of briny air. The night-skinned youth flared his nostrils tentatively, glancing to his left to surely to lay eyes upon the sight of a small stranger in the distance. So many new souls to encounter - so much beauty, so much life. Ossi smiled, knowing in his heart that Ama, despite her own misgivings toward Others, would have been proud. And so, slowly, bashfully, the sunset-eyed boy began to patter closer.
@auru
