Star Within The Ashes

The dead of night would have been unbroken in its darkness. However, the light that struck upon the ash-buried plainsland came not from the stars or the moon, but from the stallion that picked his way across them.

The elegant horse was, perhaps, a bit thinner than normal, but he had seen harsh winters in the past and weathered them well. He knew how to find morsels and grasses that hadn’t been covered by the snow – or as it had been this winter, ash – ands how to dig for what was covered up. He knew how to smash the ice to get a drink from frozen streams.

It did trouble him that the spring was not bringing the bounty it should have. However, he knew that eventually life would find its way again. Volcanic ash was fertile—humans had long flocked to the feet of volcanos that had spewed their ash and lava across the land, for the land became fertile over the course of a few turns of the seasons, after the lands had recovered from the blasts.

Of course, not all ash was fertile soil in infant stages. It would take the help of small animals that burrowed beneath the ground, leaving seeds and pushing up earth from below, mixing with the ash. The lands would recover.

In his now seven years, he and his mother and sister had traveled long distances, met many knowledgeable creatures, from other horses to primates. His mother had sought their knowledge to understand Taliesyn’s own uniqueness.

Taliesyn paused as he reached the single stream that wound through the utterly flat grassland, head rising high as he scanned his surroundings. He might be lucky to have made it through winter with enough flesh on his bones to make it as long as he could until the land found its rhythms again, but predators were gaunt, and prey scarcer than usual.

His glowing form made him stand out, and that wasn’t even factoring in his large size. Still, he bent his head to examine the mud and water before stepping into the stream and bending his head to drink. Streams were a safe source of water—the running water helped keep the ash from stagnating the water and making it undrinkable.

Having drunk his fill, he made his way from the water and stood for a long moment, scanning the land around him. Thin animals shifted and stirred across the land, wary of him, but too hungry to give him much mind beyond their desperate pawing for grass that had not grown in yet. For the prey, it would likely be a lean, unproductive year.

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