[B] Find the Way (Winding Path + )

[Toshihiko Two]

Winding Path went for a walk out in a part of the grove he had never been before, as he often did when he needed to think. The doe was strong-minded in a way he never had been. He did not worry overmuch about purpose, and he was not a member of any tribe. He offered guidance and direction to those who asked, but rarely thought on his own direction.

It was not like him to worry.

But winter was hard on foals. The foraging was lean, the predators desperate, and the cold caught anything small and fragile who had wandered too far.

So often he trusted life to work out as the Motherfather willed, but now it was him who was lost.

Maxx D

 

[Maxx D]

Bitter End was still determined to work in her caiman form despite the last fiasco. She'd wandered a little further out from her mother's part of the swamp, and was cruising along the chilly waters when she spotted the mossy buck.

As she laid her glowing reptilian eyes on him, she understood what he sought. Momentarily thrilled by the realisation, the rosy caiman started shuffling her way towards him, at an alarmingly swift pace.

Toshihiko Two

COMIN ATCHA

 

[Toshihiko Two]

Busy contemplating the bright and chilly night sky (and lost in his own thoughts), Path didn't even notice the ripples.

His tail stirred close to the bank, the furry tuft not quite touching the icy water.

Maxx D

 

[Maxx D]

Predictably, the jaws closed around the dangling strands briefly as a warning, and climbed a little higher as the jaws opened once more to accomodate more of his tail. She tugged - not very hard, but sharply, for all intents and purposes like a caiman ready to eat somekin.

Toshihiko Two

 

[Toshihiko Two]

Everything narrowed into a sharp point of mortal terror.

"Ah, Maker!" He lamented, digging into the soft bank with his hooves. Was this it? Would they grow up with only their mother? She, at least, was sturdy, and even alone... but he...

"Back! Leave me be!" he barked, fighting against the drag towards the water with all his might, but some small part of him thinking, if this was his fate...it was not unearned. He, himself, ate more than vegetation, and to be returned to the swamp was the Way of things.

But he didn't want to die. Not now.

He risked traction to aim a weighty kick in the blur of water and slick mud.

Maxx D

 

[Maxx D]

End found herself skidding back with the mud in her eyes, and blinked them off with her scaled lids before digging little claws into the mud. She could feel his resistance, and she knew it well: fear of death. She advanced, again, but this time, the caiman turned to a mare in her steps.

"Unfinished business in this world?" She rasped, tail flicking in her approach. Boy, she hoped this looked as cool as she'd desired.

Toshihiko Two

 

[Toshihiko Two]

It was a good thing (mostly for him) that the kick didn't land.

Path looked up in an adrenaline fueled awe.

His mouth felt dry, and he could barely speak. He had heard stories, of course...tales, when he was a foal himself, of strange kin, chosen by the swamp, who could take any shape and came to those in need.

"My foals," he finally stammered, bowing his head before the doe. "My first..."

Maxx D

 

[Maxx D]

From the delayed response, End was pleased to find that it was going pretty well - a slight smile touched her lips before her eyes hardened again. "Your first foals. What do they have to do with your mortality?"

Toshihiko Two