K'jhanhi looked down at the girl for some time, silent, and then closed his eyes. A lukewarm breeze kicked up sand from a nearby dune, and he could feel the tiny grains brushing past his wrinkled skin. Letting out a long breath and standing like a frail pillar in the wind, K'jhanhi thought back to a time when he could have run along with that breeze, when the air itself had urged on life even as the heat of the desert sucked it away.
That time was passed, he thought, and opened his eyes to squint past K'ailia, at the odd, white beast behind her. A few members of the tribe stood near it, watching the unicorn with curiosity.
"I have seen enough, hunter," the former nunh, physically a shadow of what he had once been but with a mind still as sharp as the blade he had once used to battle the sire before him. He drew a breath and sought to make his voice carry, though it took more effort now than it once had, "The others will agree. You're no child any longer."
"We would welcome you home," came a second voice, crackling with age but pleased, and from behind him K'deiki stepped forward, her hunched form moving to stand at his side. "As a full member of our family."
That time was passed, he thought, and opened his eyes to squint past K'ailia, at the odd, white beast behind her. A few members of the tribe stood near it, watching the unicorn with curiosity.
"I have seen enough, hunter," the former nunh, physically a shadow of what he had once been but with a mind still as sharp as the blade he had once used to battle the sire before him. He drew a breath and sought to make his voice carry, though it took more effort now than it once had, "The others will agree. You're no child any longer."
"We would welcome you home," came a second voice, crackling with age but pleased, and from behind him K'deiki stepped forward, her hunched form moving to stand at his side. "As a full member of our family."
"Song dogs barking at the break of dawn, lightning pushes the edges of a thunderstorm; and these streets, quiet as a sleeping army, send their battered dreams to heaven."
Hipparion Tribe (Sagolii)Â - Â Antimony Jhanhi's Wiki