Warm light slashed at the blanket of clouds on the horizon, spilling across the base of them in shades of coral and lavender. Eva squinted towards the setting sun, shading her eyes against the glare, watching as the tops of the grasses spun the fading light into a seething froth of gold. The sight caused her heart to trip over it's next beat, and she sucked in a deep breath of sweet, familiar air. Home. She was home, at last.
Ivar shifted beneath her, transferring his weight to one foreleg to the next in an effort to convey his impatience. Evarette's knees tightened as she leaned forward, and the Nightwalker took the invitation to heart, breaking from his patient stance into a full gallop. He was no Cyphrus Strider, but his dark legs could eat up the ground fast enough to furl Evarette's hair back from her shoulders and bring the crisp, fall air to sting her cheeks. She let out a whoop of sheer elation, squeezing her eyes shut as she lost herself to the rhythm of hooves and the steady pumps of air expelled through Ivar's broad nostrils. Tears stung behind her tightly closed eyes, and it was not until Ivar had brought his outburst of speed into the easy, rolling gait of a sedate walk that Eva realized they were rolling down her cheeks...
Eva's tears were brought about by a mingled sense of relief and despair. So many months before, she'd set out on a journey that had reached an unexpected and sudden conclusion. It had sorely drained her funds, and her spirits...and were it not for the few hunting and trapping skills she'd maintained--and a little luck--Eva might have very well starved before reaching the precious earth of her homeland. Even still, the road had turned her lean and hard, wringing an almost gaunt appearance from her slender frame. Ivar, too, had not returned unscathed. A silvery scar traced over the muscles of one shoulder, and his once sleek pelt was eroded by the dust and lack of sufficient nutrients. Both of them drank of the Cyphrus air as though it were a nurturing balm to the wounds afflicted inside and out...
The sky darkened. The sun was slipping beneath the horizon, and the last golden rays winked out over the edges of the world. Scrubbing an arm across her eyes, Evarette shook her head as though to clear it. Camp would have to be made soon...and there was still a small scrap of jerky in her pack, enough to boil into a broth and fill her belly tonight. Ivar would gladly content himself with cropping the sweet, Cyphrus grasses. Resolute, Evarette nudged Ivar towards a cluster of small, standing stones that would be a suitable break against which to break their camp.
