You're a diamond, dear

Eira... One night, as she slept pressed against the feather-cloaked shoulder of the slumbering colt, the rain began to fall. A thick blanket of pregnant grey clouds had amassed across the sky, marking the beginning of Drench and even before she rose the next morning, the rainforest they had been sheltering in for weeks had been transformed into a misty, water-logged wonderland. Much of the rain fell upon the vast canopy up above, but sweet sounding rivulets and great gushing overflow made certain that the thirsty earth waiting beneath, was thoroughly inundated too. Eira’s blue eyes opened in fright as a giant leaf tipped overhead and a flood of freezing water rushed down upon her head. Frightened at first, she stumbled hurriedly to her hooves, though as she paused to absorb the almost unbelievable transformation around her, a bright smile overwhelmed the frown folding into her face. There was a sweet, clean scent upon the air and the filly’s narrow nostrils sucked away at it greedily; then down they plunged beneath a spray of startled fluid and up lifted those tattered wings that had been wrapped safely and tied for many days beyond her reach. The quiet girl fluttered and fanned each long feather, cavorting and bathing in one falling stream and then another. It had been so long since the mud had been stripped from her shaggy, light-blue coat, since the skin beneath the caked layer of sweat and salt, had been cleansed enough to breathe; the feeling was delicious, and for most of those early hours, she did nothing more than play in the shower. By mid-morning, she was fossicking about the shade of cherry trees, searching for fruit that had ripened through the later months of scorch; these were a favourite food, and while in a general sense, she could span many days with no desire to eat, when these morsels were available she would binge quite contentedly on the succulent, red flesh. The excess water, repelled, to begin with by the stunned, dehydrated earth, was already carving a pattern of gently meandering, downhill channels towards the vicinity of the cliffs. Eira sipped gratefully, indulging in perhaps more than she really needed, and it was as her lips caressed the clean liquid that a leaf barreling down one such steam, caught her eye. Aboard it was a tiny, worm-looking creature, like nothing she’d ever seen before. It was long and decidedly plump, striped in an ostentatious style with pretty neon hues, and still more curious were the intermittent sprouts of long hair along its body that were soaked and dragging along behind the boat. The creature was saturated, and visibly uncomfortable. Though the filly couldn’t quite make out which end was its head (both had wavering red antennae and giant black blobs which could possibly have been eyes), the one towards the back of the hurtling leaf, was airborne and waving about in distress - Eira realised, as it drew closer, that the caterpillar would be thrown from the clifftop if she didn’t step in and help. The rescue went horribly askew, as the merciless course of water seemed more determined than ever to carry away its victim. She placed her hoof in its middle once, twice, but each time is split in two and deviated snuggly around her obstruction; exasperated, the young winged horse fought back. As the leaf and its prisoner scooted by at speed, Eira turned upon her hocks and sailed into the lead. Fearlessly throwing her life on the line, she plunged down into the current and spread her scrawny frame out like a dam. The water could go no further and it swirled and flurried angrily as it came rushing up against her. Carefully, she reached towards the rocking, spinning leaf and took its stiff stem in her teeth; slowly (so as not to drown or unbalance the poor soul upon it), she dragged it to higher ground nearby. Gazing down with a soft, worried eye, she found to her dismay that the little grub wasn’t moving. The pounding heart beneath her blue breast lurched desperately and she dipped still lower to try and gauge whether or not it was breathing - its fat middle seemed not to be moving at all. Eira frowned deeply, bothered but undeterred, and gathered herself to stand; then to drag the leaf along backwards, to the shelter which had kept she and the colt securely, through the days past. (NOTE: Eira’s body is currently covered in an infected rash, and lightning strikes her intermittently Trial: Kidnap a baby animal and raise it to adulthood.) Open to any <3 "I am a book of snow, a spacious hand, an open meadow, a circle that waits, I belong to the earth and its winter."

- Pablo Neruda, Winter Garden