Adevina Takhi exhaled. It was a long and slow motion drawn from deep in her stomach, like she was trying to push something out from the depths of her chest. Likely, she was. It felt as if there was something heavy there. Like a weight stitched into the space between her ribs, solid and immovable. The force of her breath made a little vortex that swirled the dense morning mist that had settled around her, drawn up from the numerous shallow lakes that dotted the landscape. Her weight shifted beneath her uneasily and there was the soft sound of lilac-colored cloven hooves settling into the damp earth.
Maybe, in a different time, the mare would have reflected upon what exactly had brought her to this place. Maybe she would reflect upon the feeling of the humid air on her skin. Or the smell of moss and the encompassing sound of gently trickling streams. Alas, there was no part of the half-kalona’s presence that lent to an air of introspection. Even in the best of times Takhi was nothing short of horrid at stopping to smell the roses, so to speak. Quite the opposite: when settled into one location for too long it felt as though there was an incessant itching beneath her skin. It was as though she had to keep moving just to quell this feeling of restless unease. Like she was constantly running from something. Or perhaps to something?
Regardless, Takhi gave little thought to the exact machinations that took her from one place to another. It was an odd state to be in. It was as though she was tunnel visioned--giving no real thought to what was happening immediately around her--but at the same time she had no real idea of what it was at the end of the tunnel.
Various things often filled that niche. Various little tasks and quests that pulled her towards the distant horizon like a thread tugging on the sinew of her heart. Hunting down a troublesome creature that crossed her path, or following whispered rumors of a skinwalker that matched the description of her mother. These tasks filled her to the brim and seemed to be the sole fixation of her attention. And once the task was behind her it was all but forgotten as the next urgent need stole her away.
It was a tiresome lifestyle, perhaps, but she found it to be a welcome one. Distracting, perhaps? Something to draw her attention from a deep sense of something that she was afraid to face? Either way, it was comforting. This chaotic life felt more peaceful and homely than any home that she had known.
And so it was with this feeling--this urgent sense that she had to continue moving--that Adevina Takhi continued to walk through the morning mists, leaving a swirl of fog and a trail of cloven hoofprints behind her.
(WC: 484)
