Once Upon a Time
12-16-2015, 11:27 PM
After traveling west from the sea's plain, Esarosa had found herself following along the edge of an expansive river. She'd eaten heartily for many days at the river's shore. Several species of ocean fish were making the journey far inland to spawn, and it was easy to make a meal of the fish that didn't make it. Despite the cold of winter, she was enjoying these lands far more than the northern territories she'd explored the previous year. She was keeping a healthy weight on her bones, and she didn't feel so lost. She confidently followed a smaller river that broke off from the Rio Grande, away from the south and into the west. As she made her way farther west, the climate became much more arid - the cold didn't seep into her bones the way it did in more temperate lands, but the dry, frigid wind bit sharply at her nose, ear tips and paw pads. The snow was lighter, fluffy, and blew around wildly in the slightest breeze. When her paws led her to the lush Emerald Valley, it felt as though she had stepped into a memory. It was a glimpse into her past. Nostalgia gripped her tightly, causing her to smile - with a lump in her throat - as she slowly settled her haunches onto the snow. A blanket of white lay in front of her, parted only by the river and a scarce few trees standing near the water, drooping from the weight of snow upon them. It looked just like her birth-land, the very way Tirisfal Valley had looked in the season she'd left it behind. Not even a yearling, she'd left in the dead of winter to chase her wild dreams. Who knew she would find herself in a place so far away that somehow felt so familiar. If only there were a familiar face to break the loneliness that crept upon her as she gazed wistfully down on the valley. I am so homesick for some place I will never be. |