hearts on a string {Lyall}

On a white so warm and cold, so dark and light, how was it possible to not feel as if a ghost? To Lyall she was nothing but a wraith, with intangible paws nary touching the moon-washed earth beneath her feet. Such an ethereal unreal scene, when she herself was cloaked in silver as if the very moon had come down to bestow upon her a cloak of its own light. Grey was bleached white and red was darkened to ruddy black, making her nothing but a flash of shadow, a hidden patch of white before the eye.

The tiny shoots and bulbs parted before her paws, bowing out of the way instead of being crushed under careless paws. These were dainty steps, as if every paw set down had careful planning behind it. Eyes that brimmed with emotion yet were as grey-washed as the night itself were set inside the fragile skull, scanning the landscape. The wind was nowhere to be found and not a scent came towards her, yet those snow choked eyes picked up on a shadow among shadows, a shadow moving in the night.

Cocking her head, the shadowed female stepped closer, eyes luminescent of the moon itself. This being before her was shadows and starlight, as if the burning thousands had decided to come dance and dance along his pelt. A wolf she knew now, yet in this world apart, he could be nothing ordinary. Grace almost otherworldly haunted his shape, almost as if another shadow or tale, told in those orbs of iced fire.

Stepping forward into that chosen shaft of moonlight, the female did examine the male, youthful eyes telling of curiosity and striking intelligence, silver eyes seeming to hold the stars themselves, matching to this man's star-struck pelt. "Who are you, to beckon the lights to so dance in your fur, to have such eyes of heavenly fire?" Her lilting voice chimed, ringing like light wind-chimes, natural and full of life and music. Perhaps this was a ghost and nothing more she conversed with.

Grey eyes blinked as Lyall did a double take, actually surprised that she was responded to. Needless to say, she hadn't expected a reply, still believing it was a spirit or Ancient before her. But she was not disappointing, his fair voice was just as it should be, smooth like honey and velvet, a gift to the ears and soul. The sound of it sent a shiver up her spine as if the words had somehow physically touched her.

Lyall watched in slight apprehension as the being advanced toward her, she had no idea what to expect from such a creature of beauty, for surely a being so fair could not be mortal and bound to the earth and she was. Her heart thrummed in her chest, but it may as well have been in her ears for all the blood roaring there. He seemed to watch her gently as if she were a fragile creature, as if even looking to hard could cause her to shatter and blow away in the spring breeze. Indeed she felt fragile, against such a male, as if she could curl up between his paws and nestle there forever, knowing she would be protected.

She opened her mouth to better take in his scent, sunshine and the living green of the earth. His scent was that of life of joy and love and the wild green places of the world. It was irresistible and exciting all rolled together to overload her senses and lower her guard. His words, those lyrical tones that cascaded from his mouth like a waterfall fell over a smooth stone, powerful and quiet and loud. She could have listened to it all day without falter, if the very words he had spoken had not shocked her out of such revelry.

She stuttered for words for a time, not knowing exactly how to respond. Shifting on light paws, Lyall averted her eyes, overcome by shyness of what this male had apparently been able to read among them. "I am known as the daughter of Jyrra. I am the Healer yet have never Healed. My eyes are thine old, dark as my shadowed soul with not snow but a howling blizzard contained within. I tease no Ancients, nor you with my song, for it has no jest nor joy of which to listen." All through her words, Lyall carefully made sure to exclude her name, cautious even though she was beginning to feel immensely curious. "You dart my question as the butterfly doth evade the spider's web. Male with the fur of stars and eyes of fire, would you not reveal your identity to at least one curious enough to ask twice?"