Aqua looked around hesitantly as she entered the stallion's land. The grasses beneath her feet blew and wavered in the breeze, making her paws feel awkward. She wasn't used to grass being plentiful. From what she could remember of her old pack snow usually covered the ground. Grass though, that was unusual. Only in the hottest days of summer was that green prickly stuff visible.
She raised her nose and sniffed the air. The scents of prey filled her nostrils, but mixed in with them was the smell of other horses. She looked about and sure enough in the center of the grassy plain were five horses.
Aqua looked up at the stallion. She knew that he had said his name once before, but now she couldn't remember. "Mister stallion, what's your name again?"
The stallion gave the young wolf a friendly smile, "My name is Ophion." He looked as his herd and flicked his tail toward them. "That is my herd."
Aqua looked back out at the other horses. "Can I meet them?" she asked her question cautiously, as if she would be denied the right to meet her new family.
Ophion smiled and spread his dark brown wings. "If you can fly with me over there," he said. He knew some things about young snow wings and knew that this one should have been flying by now, but somehow she said she didn't know how when he has first met her.
Aqua stuck her wings out as straight as she could. They sparkled in the sunshine in harmony with her snow-like coat. "I don't know how," she said. She looked up at him, her eyes shining with a feeling of being left out.
Ophion smiled. "Yes you do," he said. "Listen to your heart." He spread his wings and flapped them, only going a few foxlengths.
Aqua bit her lower lip. "I'll try," she said and flapped her butterfly-like wings once. She hovered a few mousetails off the ground for a mere second, then landed on the ground with thump, the grass folding down underneath her.
"Good try," Ophion praised her. "But don't stop flapping your wings until you have air under them."
Aqua nodded her head a bit shyly and prepared to try again. Standing as tall as she could, her chin up, she flapped her wings. She flapped them again and again, but being so new to this she didn't know how to go forward.
As she went higher and higher, Ophion took to the sky too. "Move your feet like your walking and use your tail to steer," he said, demonstrating. He went a foxlength forward, but then stopped and watched Aqua as she kicked her feet a little and then saw her shake her tail back and forth, testing it out. Then she really tried and Ophion smiled from ear to ear.
Aqua zoomed forward, past Ophion and the rest of the herd. WOW! she thought. This is fun! She turned around and flew back to Ophion.
Ophion smiled at Aqua and pointed down towards the herd with his tail, and together they dove down and he introduced her to her new herdmates.
Flying high in the breeze,
Moving around with ease,
Swooping and ducking,
I hear The Giants thumping.
His foosteps draw nearer,
I see his face clearer,
A big brute with wings,
But his voice sings,
"Young pup, fly on."
I go to his side,
He smiles with pride,
We fly to his land,
There his herd stands.
"Welcome, Aqua," said a dazzling gray-speckled mare looking at Aqua. "We sure are glad that you're here."
Aqua smiled politely at the Alandor mare. She remembered that Ophion had introduced her as Tethys, his mate and lead mare of the herd. Aqua looked up at the other horses around her. They dipped their head in greeting, as if they really didn't care if she stayed or not.
Ophion was next to speak, "I'm sure their glad to meet you too." He gave each of the other five horses a hard stare and his tail swished with annoyance.
Aqua saw Tethys whisper something to her mate and she turned to Aqua, "Come with me and I'll show you around the territory." Aqua walked forward to join Tethys and together they walked to a small grove of trees.
Aqua looked up and down as they entered a clearing right in the middle of the grove. "Wow," she said as a small wind blew through the air around her, making the leaves above rattle and shake on their branches. And it was a spectacle. The light shining down through the leaves was bright and made spots appear on the grass underneath Aqua's paws. The trees were all light brown in color and neatly kept, as if they had someone taking care of them. The grass was had more spring than in the main clearing of the territory and no leaves were anywhere to be seen.
"This is the Nursery," Tethys said from behind her. "We keep it clean so the foals don't slip and fall when it rains." She stepped into the patchy light of the clearing beside Aqua and her speckled coat looked even more beautiful. She breathed in the fresh scents that flowed through the clearing and smiled. Honeysuckle scents wafted on the breeze, making the clearing feel homely.
"Now, we mustn't spend all day here," said Tethys leaving the clearing with Aqua at her side. "Next is the Elders' Cave."
And sure enough the area that Aqua saw next was a cave. But it wasn't quite what she had expected. The mouth of the cave was decorated with flowers. Inside the cave looked clean and well kept, moss and grass covered the cave's floor.
"The elders don't always sleep here, most of them prefer to sleep outside with rest of the herd," Tethys explained. "But every now and then they think it's nice to sleep in here. They like that it holds off the rain, I suppose." Tethys smiled at the yawnig mouth of the cave and Aqua heard her hooves clomping off to their next destination. Quickly she caught up, not wanting to be left in and unfamiliar land.
"So what's that?" Aqua asked, pointing her nose towards the area in question.
Tethys followed Aqua's eyes to a large patch of rocks with small streams of water flowing between them. "That's The Brook. The foals like to play there, but it's also a good place to get a drink." Tethys didn't take Aqua to see The Brook, instead she took Aqua back to the herd. Silently she prayed that the rest of her family would soon accept the young wolf.
A new home,
A land to explore,
Here I now roam,
A deep sore.