» An Unexpected Party

Though Zahra had been living in the Rift for longer than she cared to remember, she was immediately surprised to discover that many of the faces she passed along the way through the crowd, were unfamiliar. It occurred to her, jarring her conscience and prickling her skin, that Eleos and herself had been living in the shadows for too long, avoiding their unfortunate circumstances and choosing the shackles of a pessimists mind, over freedom (him more so, she quickly corrected). Light, golden eyes surveyed the expressions around her, noticing easily that most others seemed cheerful and without the burden of resentment that she’d allowed to be sewn into her skin. Before she knew it, the painted weaver’s white face had softened and her sooty lips had curled into a genuinely, jovial grin. So immersed in the moment did she become; basking in the warmth summoned by their host and revelling in the sound of conversation, of laughter, of others, that thought of her friend hiding beyond reach, slipped her mind entirely. When the Protector lowered his enormous body to crouch before them and speak, Zahra had already come upon the other side of the gathering. Her hooves stilled, haunches swivelling slowly until she faced the front, and with dark ears pitched forward, the golden-bellied mare listened with interest. The Rift native thanked them warmly, affirming that the party was theirs and that they should enjoy themselves—already, she was. As the volume of the music again lifted, her whiskered chin turned to the right and she found a stranger beside her; a stallion, black, with a tall, lean neck and beads dotted through the mane veiled down its length . “Hi there,” she smiled, beating back the wave of unexpected shyness as it threatened to upheave her unexpected confidence, “I’m Zahra…” Though around them the shock of new possession rolled like a tidal wave through the crowd, the draper didn’t instantly notice the change taking place in herself—neither was the figure before her familiar, so the emergence of wings, a bird perhaps on one side, did not come as a surprise.

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@Seiji