stranger than earth

her heaven is only half alive
i fell asleep in his, but he could not breathe in mine

Don’t worry, he reassures, and Jendayi feels her heart flutter in her chest; as if his words fettered her paws to the ground, Jendayi was finally able to stable herself upon the ice, and slowly she slid across the frozen blackwater, the gray sky reflected underneath endless onyx and blue. It wasn’t the falling through that bothered Jendayi as it was the slipping and falling on. A sharp pain still radiated in her hip where she had fallen once before, and while her fur was thick and protective the ice was also hard and nearly unbreakable, and it did not provide any sort of comfort to break her fall. She watched with careful golden eyes as Kai expertly pushed off the ice once more, and an almost childlike glint kindled in her gaze, yes, that, I want that. She wanted to do as he did—to glide effortlessly and elegantly across the frozen expanse. The ice felt like cold pinpricks under her paws, but her adrenaline was so spiked there was certainly enough heat in her legs to combat the cold.

My name’s Kai, by the way. His voice caught her off-guard, and quickly the blissful reverie snapped away. Her gaze sought his once more, and an almost breathless smile curled onto her mouth. “Jendayi,” she responds in her usual manner, short and concise yet pleasant. Steadily, she takes a step toward him, but quick was her temporary grace ruined when her paw made contact with the slippery surface, and suddenly, Jendayi was slipped along the ice once more. A fearful oofh! exhaled from her lips, and only just barely was the white maiden able to catch herself, at the expense of her legs spreading awkwardly, unable to pick themselves back up into a more proper position.

“H-how do you walk on this?” she asked breathlessly, her words breaking the breaths of her pants. Jendayi had always figured herself a surefooted creature, able to scale rough mountaintops and slip through deserts without getting lost or trapped in the quicksands. But never had she encountered something like this before—never had she trudged through a lake that was hard-frozen over, and not just shallow and sloshy water, filled with chunks of ice yet still fluid. She dares not try to move once more, her form visibly shaking from the shock of the unpredictable falls and unsure footing, and the sudden chill in the air that curled around them. Still, the day was beautiful—and it was hard to hate such a wonderful thing. If anything, she was simply flustered.