[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... uncert.png[/imgleft] Feel the Night was wandering around in the swamp aimlessly, though it was with a specific purpose in mind. He needed a blessing for Hidden Spring. He just had no clue how to get one. From the stories he’d been told he needed to go out and find a legendary kin on his own, they could give him what he needed for Hidden Spring.

@Blinded By Silence

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... ncert2.png[/imgleft]Leaf-bare had dug its claws into the swamp. A small, watery sun hung high in the sky, nestled in a blanket of frozen clouds. Frost bit every remaining leaf and clung to the skeletons of the dormant trees. At the base of one of these trees, a tall, white crane stood watching a cave-dweller wander about, his feathers fluffed up against the cold. He waited a moment, curious. He had not met a Zikwa before.

'What is it that you seek?' His voice was like water over stones, echoing gently in the buck's mind. From the base of the tree, his red eyes shone, following him with curiosity.

@Nashawryn

Bleak startled, the voice's intrusion knocking his concentration astray. He almost stumbled into a fallen tree covered in a slight layer of ice. His head whipped around as he searched for the kin who had spoken in his head. There was only a crane nearby though, causing him some confusion but he decided to say his answer out loud anyways. "I seek a blessing for a doe that I am having children with. I wish for the children to be blessed."

@Blinded By Silence

[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... uncert.png[/imgleft]In a sudden swirl of snow and feathers, the crane stood and spread its wide wings, swelling until it was no longer a crane but instead a large stag. His red eyes shone brightly, wisps of sunset flowing back from them into his salt-stained mane. He shook out his fur and suddenly the scent of the sea was all around them. Under the chilled sun, his markings glimmered with the sunlight of an ocean far, far away.

"I see," he said softly, his voice a breath of ocean air, "Do not worry, the swamp has heard your calls. Now, tell me," He blinked slowly, "Tell me how you and this doe met."



@Nashawryn

Feel the Night's eyes went wide as possible. Where the crane had been was now a kin. A magnificent kin. "Well.. She'd been drinking from a river when I passed by her. I fell for her instantly, so much so that I stumbled and then fell into the river. She helped me get back out." Feel shuffled his hooves around in a shy manner as he tells his short story.

"After she rescued me from the river we started talking and it kind of went from there.." Feel blushed as he finished up his story. It sounded lame to him as he said it out loud. He kicked at a rock covered in frost, not looking at the other kin.

@Blinded By Silence

[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... uncert.png[/imgleft]The stag's eyes shone brilliantly, a growing flash of setting sun. He parted his lips, "Into the river, you say..." and with his words a thick red mist that smells of brine fell from his mouth, flooding the swamp floor. As it fell, red became blue, dark and murky until it seemed they were no longer standing on dry land but instead on a river's bed. His fur rippled and flowed with its currents. He could feel its chill flood his fur. Looking above, he could see the sun ripple on its surface.

He watched as a shadow image of the buck broke the river's surface and fell, sinking fast. But he was not alone, no. Before he could reach the bottom, another form leaped in. The shadow swam down with powerful kicks. She grabbed the Zikwa with her teeth and with strength rarely seen, pulled this buck from the river's clutches.

"And so it was, and now you are here, a father-to-be." As he spoke, the faux-water drained and the ground was once again dry. Such was his power, to breath life into stories, no matter how short. "Even the most humble of beginings may one day shake the swamp to her core." He reached his head to the wing of his mantle and took from it a single white feather. He stepped forward and placed it at the hooves of the young buck, "May your children hold that potential and grow to shape their world. And," He added with a smile and a wink, "May they be strong swimmers."

And with that, he stepped back. Fur became feathers once more and, in a flurry of wings, the crane took to the air, disappearing without a trace.


@Nashawryn