First Frost {Skadi}

Calm waters, clear spirits, and a soft breeze. These are the simple things in life that make it quite worth living. To most, anyways. We must each take the time to take a step back and realize that which is going on in our lives. Not me, though. Oh no, never me. What is the point in taking a step back from the show to simply observe when you can take center stage every time? Granted, there are days when I take a minuscule part in my own plays, but not today. Today was a day where I stared very center. I stood very still, staring out into the waters, soaking up the ideal that was my day. The sun was lowering into the waters, lighting everything up like a bright fire. The kind of fire that blazed bright inside the heart of the true performers, and melted all who stood in the way of that perfect performance. The back of my memory tickled with the idea of my mother. She was one of the ones who stood in the way. Not at first, but eventually that is what she grew to be. Though I was not the one to burn her, I am glad that she was snubbed out. 

I stamped a hoof into the ground, as if I was crushing her skull beneath it. It would have been much sweeter had I been the one to do the snubbing. But as that was not the case, I could just be glad that it was done. There were plenty of other chances to burn those who stood in the path. I stepped closer to the waters, my dark pelt shivering with the day's receding heat. The sun's rays where always a burden to my being. It was as if I were the turtle that carried the world on it's shell. No longer. Then night was always mine, and forever it shall be. My perfect stage, where creatures roamed the shadows in fear of a dancing mare who laughed in the face of most danger, and easily sprinted from others without a trace. Yes, the Night Dancer Cabaret. That was me, my title, and it fit well. I had caught wind of it through the stars. They whispered to me in my ear and I knew what they said to be true. I was a creature of shadow, through and through. I gave a light chuckle, standing at the edge of the fire waters now, their tendrils lapping towards me, eager to take what darkness I could give them. 

I stepped forward to the edge, letting the waters lap at the edges of my daggers. Sweet relief. Was it for me or for the liquid that tried to pool around me? Did that possibly even matter? No, it did not. The water before me was just another prop, just another stage. A place where I could perform my most secret arts. I closed my green pools, letting the night take me. The birds in the distance were taking shelter and were no longer going to sing their sweet music. But that was of no consequence. The birds were only one of many symphonies. The night owls and the sweet insects of the twilight hours would step forth to take their place. 

I danced for a moment at the edges of the water, without truly realizing I was doing it. My pillars simply moved me of their own accord. My banner swished back and forth, like a partner following close behind me. A duet of the moon and the sun, the switch between hours, between darkness and light, between worlds and lives. I gave a high whinny, glad to be free of the sun and the light hours. The sun was almost gone, now, just leaving a faint imprint of the light that it once provided. With a final prance, I came out from the waters and gave a satisfied trot along the borders of the pool in front of me. Yes, this was the stage for my next scene. I could feel it in my very bones. Something was going to happen tonight. Something that even the stars could not yet tell me. But I could feel it. I knew with every fiber of my being that something was afoot, and that was a wonderful thought. Let them come and play with me. Let there be another scene. I wanted to see what the stage of this night world before me could possibly hold. Let them come and play with me. What kind of performers did they have to offer? I was excited to see.