Welcome to Gaia! ::

Cinder was buzzing. Fresh from her Grandfather Tree vision, the doe felt almost invincible. The knowledge that she could now help and heal - both creatures and Vykeli - with her gift made her mind churn about all the possibilities, all the things she could see and good deeds she could do. In her mind's eye, she could see it all, scenes of her standing by injured nouls and desperate critters, her growing into her abilities, her rousing long-dead trees from their permanent slumber.

The doe skipped along through the Barrens and back to the Homewood, eager to tell her parents how her quest had gone. They'd all expected her to achieve and to be granted a gift. Her parents had likely guessed which one she would get, even. But it would be a treat to tell them anyway.

As she neared the edge of the Homewood, she saw a little white shape bobbing near the border of the Barrens, looking like an eager little thing. Without quite thinking about it, the doe made her way toward the little colt. In her head, she imagined that she would simply walk by him and ignore his antics - it was just a baby, after all, and Cinder was spectacularly unequipped to deal with babies. But reality did not seem keen on complying, and before she knew it, she had almost run smack into him.

"Oh, uh. Hello," she said, uncertain of how to proceed. "Don't uh... Don't go out there on your own. It's not very nice out there."

"Oh, no, I wasn't trying to tell you what to do. Just advice, I guess," she said, suddenly remembering how much she has despised strict instructions as a child. She tried to backpedal on her words, and was so caught up with not pissing off this young colt that she almost didn't catch whatever he said next.

"Wait, what?" she paused in time to see the little smolder on his tiny face. It took her a moment to figure out what he was doing, her face screwed into a small frown as her brain churned. And then, finally, "Ahhh," she managed to say with a weak laugh. "That's a really... good expression."

The doe could tell she was floundering a little bit, and she hated that. No doubt this little cold would think she was off her rocker and a loser, and he'd lose interest in speaking with her immediately. Cinder could deal with the latter - she clearly was not good at speaking to young nouls - but the idea that she had come off as a bit of a buffoon gnawed at her. She wasn't about to go down like that.

"I'm Cinder," she said, trying to recover from the verbal stumble. "I'm sorry to hear about your parents. They must be important nouls, to be so busy."

There was a kind of confidence in this little foal that Cinder could appreciate. He reminded her of herself a bit, when she was his age. Precocious, and charming for his age. She suspected that he might grow up to be a nice, smooth talker, given half a chance.

"That you will, Haniel," she said in ready agreement. He seemed terribly understanding of how busy his parents were, and that was one point on which young-Cinder certainly would not have conceded. She had been a demanding child, making herself a focal point of attention at every opportunity. That was probably why her parents had never thought to have more foals earlier. One Cinder was more than enough.

"That's right, I just came from there," she added with a decisive nod. "It was... well, it was hot. And not very nice at all. Terribly dry, nothing really grows there. But I guess... that's the draw."

She paused to think about her journey out to the Grandfather Tree. So much open wasteland and dead or dying plants. It seemed truly inhospitable, and if she hadn't known for a fact that noulicorns traveled out there routinely, she might have believed that it was a place that nobody should ever go.

"It makes you want to go out there and heal it," she said finally. "Like it's asking you to help. I went to visit the Grandfather Tree. I've always wanted to help, and getting my Gift was the logical first step."

Cinder was glad the colt seemed so interested as she spoke about the Grandfather Tree and the Barrens. That very curiosity, she hoped, would grow as he matured, and he would join the many noulicorns out working to restore Vykeli to its former glory. Every body, every gift helped, and if she could credit herself with convincing even one young noulicorn to go out and heal the land, she would feel as if she'd done something.

"I got the gift of Vivify," she said happily. "I have the ability to Soothe away pains."

The gift was terribly fitting for her. She'd met many Vivify users growing up and had seen herself reflected in almost every single one of them. The abilities of the gift were perhaps not quite as powerful as some of the others at the Apprentice level, but the abilities of Vivify Ascended were truly astonishing. Cinder knew how to play the long game. She was gunning for those abilities, no doubt.

"It has a lot to do with helping others at this stage, which I like," she continued. "But it's the ones later on that really get interesting. I'm going to resurrect something someday." The young doe beamed. No question about it.

"Do you have a particular Gift you wish to receive, Haniel?" she continued, curious.

Cinder was nodding along to Haniel's answer, so she seemed a little taken aback when the youngster asked a new question. "Black horns?" she echoed, blinking. "I... No, I don't believe I've ever met one."

It would have been a tall order, she suspected, to meet a black horn in Homewood, especially as a child. Her parents had been keen to encourage her to embrace her natural ability to help heal Vykeli, and any interaction with black horns might have been a dent in their efforts. Few really knew how it worked, but there were certainly noulicorns out there who believed black horns were almost contagious in their ideology. Cinder herself didn't quite agree, but then... she wouldn't know. She felt a curiosity inside her come alive, sparked inadvertently by this young colt's question.

"Fortunately for me, everyone I've met so far in Homewood hasn't been bad," she added, though that wasn't to say she hadn't met some selfish or disagreeable characters in her life. "But I think I might eventually run into some once I start traveling outside of Homewood. I don't know if I want to, but I think it's inevitable, somewhere out in the world."

He seemed like such a precocious youngster, Cinder was sure Haniel would handle himself with aplomb when he did his quest. The doe nodded with a smile, following his gaze toward the edge of Homewood, and then nodding back the way he had come.

"Come, I'll walk with you back into the forest," she said, figuring it was high time for both of them to get back. "I would certainly not say no to an adventure when you're ready. It's definitely out there."

No doubt, they would both enjoy it.

/fin