Warmth in the Wind

Featuring Aurora and Nimwen

Winter, Y769 of the New Age

Windborne, Southeast of Gumtree Hollow

 

Nimwen

    Cold ears, cold feet, cold nose, cold tail… Winter was officially Nim’s least favorite season.

    It didn’t help that the snow seemed to come down endlessly. It was no snow storm, but it just wouldn’t stop. The doe shook her mane out vigorously, sending out a shower of snowflakes just as white. Even training had been cancelled; what she wouldn’t give to be warming her muscles with a good spar...

    Shoving her way through a snowbank, Nimwen found relief beneath a low-branched gumtree and pressed herself against the trunk. “This is ridiculous,” she mumbled through chattering teeth. Funny that she should loath the snow so much, while young colts and fillies were romping through it in glee.

 

Aurora

            A doe nearby carefully stepped through the snack. Her brown eyes gazing among the colts, a smile on her face, remembering when she was that age. Romping through the snow without a care in the world.

She made her way to the tree in which Nimwen was near in order to help shield herself from the still falling snow, and dug a small hole in the snow in order to reach for a patch of grass, unaware that she was not alone by the tree.

 

Nimwen

            The soft sound of footsteps made Nimwen glance over her shoulder; a lithe palomino had come sidling under the branches to share her shelter. Nim watched in silence until she noticed the stranger start pawing away at the snow, and decided to step up beside her.

            “... Here, let me help you there.”

            Nimwen focused her magic on the air around them and compelled it to warm, allowing the snow at their feet to start melting away.

            “A little easier than digging it up, yeah?” she said, trying her darnedest to sound neighborly. Molach, even her attitude was hampered by the cold.

 

Aurora

            The palomino looked over at Nimwen. Her ears perks slightly as she gave a shy smile.

“Yes. Thank you.” She said with a smile before dipping her head down to eat some of the exposed grass.

 

Nimwen

            Nimwen tilted her head at the stranger. She had seen this doe around before, certainly; it was near impossible not to run into all her herdmates at one time or another. The doe was older than Nimwen, perhaps -- yet she seemed meek, quiet.

            “So whadd’ya call yourself, miss?” the roan asked, before a cold gust sent chills over her skin and clamped her mouth shut with chattering teeth. She paused to heat the air around them again, grumbling a few curses at the season.

            “Are you not big on magic or somethin’?” she continued eventually. The recruit shuffled her feet a little, hoping some movement would ward off the cold. “All my family always uses that trick this time of year. Warming the wind, I mean.”

 

Aurora

            The doe glanced up at Nimwen. She lifted her head and turned to face her as she spoke.

“My name is Aurora. I suppose if knowing next to no magic at all as not being big on magic, then I believe that I am not big on it at all,” the doe sighed as she went back to her grass.

She grew even more quiet as she finished a small patch of grass, then walked into the snow. She didn't seem too phased by the cold as her tail gently brushed along the top of the snow, and her bit of forelock fell over one eye.

 

Nimwen

            “Wh - ‘next to no magic’? At all?” Nimwen stared with unabashed surprise. She trailed behind the pale doe, momentarily forgetting her grievances against the weather. “Don’t… don’t you ever feel the wind stirring in your bones? Or hear Molach’s voice whispering?”

    The snow clung to her legs as she sifted through, but for now she didn’t mind. Magic was such a precious thing to Nim, it was almost absurd for her to remember that not everyone practiced it with such diligence. Curiously she searched Aurora’s expression, wondering if had been a sigh of regret, or frustration -- or perhaps annoyance.

    “It’s just, I’m going to be a stormsoldier. We need the wind. Fighting stunts and whatnot,” said the roan. “... I’m Nimwen, anyhow.”

 

Aurora

            “It's nice to meet you Nimwen,” the palomino replied softly, “I am sorry to say that I am unfamiliar with those things. I never really grew up learning what they are. I was born, a year later my mother became pregnant with another fawn, and then my parents just cast me out of their lives. I never even knew if I had a brother or a sister, and I haven't seen either of my parents since…”

 

Nimwen

            The recruit frowned. “That’s... awful,” she said, her bright eyes darkening. It was appalling to think anyone would abandon a mere yearling… Nim shook her head. “I can’t imagine life without my family.”

            She said so honestly; it was because of her parents’ constant guidance and support that Nimwen had turned out as she was. To think Aurora had been robbed of such privilege, and still managed pull through alive and well! Magic or no magic, Nim felt a stab of admiration for her quiet herdmate.

            She paused a moment before her expression perked up, and she asked, “... Hey, what if I teach you a thing or two? About the wind, I mean.” Part of her sincerely wanted to show  another how exciting the wind could be, while another simply hoped to distract Aurora from her troubled past.

 

Aurora

            Aurora’s face lit up. “You would do that? I mean, you don't have to. I don't wish for you to feel guilty for my past.” Aurora looked down shyly. No one had ever offered to help her before. She wasn't much of a social butterfly, but she didn't always wish to be alone either.

 

Nimwen

            With a friendly nudge to Aurora’s shoulder, Nimwen walked in front of her and searched her eyes, trying to meet her downcast gaze again. She let her dark eyes soften.

            “Sure, I don’t have to… but, I want to,” Nimwen insisted. Wink a wink, she added, “Believe me, when I don’t want to do something, I don’t give it a second thought.”

    The roan straightened up and adopted an air of self-assurance -- a form she was much more familiar with. “The wind is my forté!” she proudly stated. “Stick with me, and we’ll have you directing currents in no time at all.”

 

Aurora

            Aurora’s glace lit up.

“You truly mean it?”

 

Nimwen

            ““Sure do!” The young roan nodded, glad to see Aurora perk up. Nimwen set herself up where they’d both have room and waited for another breeze to pass.

            “Before you can make your own wind, you have to be able to control what’s already there. It starts with feeling the wind,” she began, but had to pause; much of her connection to magic was just that, feeling, something deep-rooted and intimate. It was strange, now, to try finding the words for it, but it would’ve taken far more to discourage Nimwen.

    “It’s like... the air’s way of whispering to us, offering us something to grab. Once you can reach it… you can move it yourself!” Accordingly, Nimwen redirected the cold wind that had been rushing over them to flow in the opposite direction. Simple as could be. She smiled to Aurora. “As naturally as moving your legs!”

 

Aurora

            “Alright.” Aurora replied, trying to do what she was told, but failing miserably, making the wind come back towards them, stronger and colder.

The palomino shuddered, looking at her tutor. “O-oops…”

 

Nimwen

            “Nice and steady--” Nim started to say as Aurora began, but cut off abruptly at the harsh gale, gritting her teeth from the chill. The roan shuddered, mumbling another frustrated curse at the winter.

            As she met Aurora’s eyes, Nimwen mentally kicked herself back into a cheerful expression. “Th-that’s okay!” she assured the meek doe. “The first time can be tricky.”

    Again, she hesitated; Nim was so used to brutal drill sergeants, how was she supposed to act like some gentle, patient teacher? ...How would Sadron have explained it?

    “Reaching for the wind is, uhm, kind of like reaching for a wild animal,” Nim suggested. “It has a mind of its own. You don’t have to force it, just… coax it. Y’know?” She smiled at Aurora awkwardly, wondering if her words made any sense.

 

Aurora

            The palomino lit up, knowing exactly what she meant. She attempted to do again what she was told to do.

She attempted and succeed.

Aurora was excited. She was finally doing magic! Her success though, was short lived, as with her excitement, she lost her focus and the magic was once more reversed, and her excitement died down to disappointment and self pity as she lowered her head and drooped her tail.

 

Nimwen

            Feeling the wind change course, Nimwen’s ears perked up and she grinned widely, jumping up once in place.

            “Yeah! Yeah, there you go!” cheered the recruit, excited both to see Aurora click with her magic, and to see the happiness on the golden doe’s face. It was gone as quickly as it had come, and Nimwen started to say, “Keep going!” -- but stopped at seeing her companion withdraw.

            The roan softly bumped Aurora on the shoulder. “Hey, don’t quit just yet,” she urged. “It takes some practice, that’s all. You’re doing great!” She then trotted around the doe in a circle, feeling the energy return to her step. “And it was your first time, right? How awesome is that?”

 

Aurora

            Aurora lifted her head to look at Nimwen as she trotted around her. “I suppose it was a little bit awesome,” she spoke shyly, a faint smile creeping onto her face. “Shall we try again?”

 

Nimwen

            The roan nodded. It was uplifting to hear her words start to encourage Aurora, and that she was willing to keep practicing. Despite the cold winter air still chilling Nim’s skin, she had no complaints standing in it if it meant she could aid the doe a little longer.

            “Now, this time,” Nimwen began, setting her hooves in the snow, “try starting it up slowly, and see if you can focus on it for a little longer…”