Inner Storms [Harbingr]

She’d been utterly thrilled with the success of the Harvest Festival. She’d been able to forget the impending losses she was facing.

Now that the Festival had drawn to a close, she returned home to a mother who was dying. A mother she’d never truly gotten back from the Slavers.

She’d attended to her duties for the last few weeks since the Festival, but the mixture of her season and the heartache had finally sent her on an adventure of escape. She’d wandered without much direction for a day or two, before coming to the shores of the Mainland.

It had been peaceful here, and she’d struck out across the sea, swimming hard, but going carefully. Now, hours later, she sat deep in an island Glade, in a pool of moonlight that filtered through a break in the tropical canopy above.

She drew in a deep breath, holding it for several moments before letting it out, tamping down that raging agony that threatened to explode so often when she let her mind wander to her troubles. She wasn’t certain what would happen if she let it out—whether she would scream or weep.

Another deep breath, another pause, another shuddering exhalation as her eyes flickered through thoughts beneath closed lids. From an outward perspective, she looked serene, sitting in a pool of moon and starlight, long-haired tail flicked in a shimmery veil over the ground at her paws, mane buffeting on every breeze. Inside, she was battling a tempest that very badly wanted free.

Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think