45th Day of Spring 505 AV
"Antares!"
The deep void of sleep clung like a warm blanket draped across his bare shoulders, the pleasant dreams of an unexplored world fading to the sharp call of his name from the rough and tumbled voice of his father somewhere on the other side. The boy had become accustomed to waking each morning in this manner, drawn from one world to the next with just the single beat of a heart separating the two. It was barely a moment worth noticing half the time, but if he devoted his attention to it just long enough, that single moment could be stretched to long languid minutes of carefree rest.
Caught at that looming juncture, where milk white light began spilling into his field of vision from the dawn of a new day, a single memory he had safely tucked away the night before suddenly ignited an explosive plume of fire that expelled all rational desire to remain in bed. Snapping his eyes open while warding away the sting of light from the pavilion's open entrance, Antares tore away the hand sewn blankets of his bedding and slung his dark legs over the lip of his cot. Forgoing all manner of propriety, the boy shoved himself to his feet and raced for the door, dipping agilely beneath the raising arms of his disgruntled father he seemed to completely ignore.
Within the encampment many a member of his clan was tending to early morning rituals. While some prayed, others were stoking the cook fires for their first meal with the rest administering to their personal effects. All heads turned towards the lad with startled looks distorting the majority of their faces at first, though once they realized who the source of such commotion was, opted for muttering their favored curses and went about their business. Normally Antares would have shared pleasantries with those he honored most and offered help where he felt it was needed, but this morning the excitement welling inside him was far too much to contain. Dancing barefooted into the matted dew-kissed grasses, his eyes immediately sought the covered paddock where the true source of all his elation lay in wait.
Over a year ago he had found Cerus on the open plain leagues from where he was now with one hoof crossing the veil from this life to the next. By an act of grace from the gods, Antares had diligently worked the young colt back to health, introducing him to the clan's herd where he had quickly found a surrogate mother. Unable to be trained or ridden within the first year as by the wisdom of those who truly understood the dynamics of Striders, Antares was content with watching the colt run free across the plains with the rest of the herd when they were set loose to graze. It was always a wonder to him how they never strayed too far, the bond between man and beast still a mysterious thing no amount of lecture could scrawl in meaningful explanation.
But just yesterday his father had told him that Cerus was to be trained, and if the gods willing, would accept his son as its companion in time. There seemed to be very little promise in his voice when he'd spoken of that, the pain a dull razor on the back of his tongue he had tried to swallow. Antares felt it deep in his soul, though, like a cool wind pressing through the curls of his long hair; the internal comfort that left him bereft of justifying word. His father would see it just as he saw it in due time.
Slipping between the posts that kept the horses penned in, Antares was not at all surprised to find Cerus waiting for him, distanced from the rest of the herd. Extending his hand at first to let the colt get a long drag of his scent, Antares could sense that Cerus was anticipating the day as much as he was. It brought a tingling calm over the both of them as they joined one another in playful embrace. Perhaps if the trainers saw that a bond had already begun to bloom, they might forgo the process of imprinting which he had been told might take half a day. There was a fire in the Strider colt's eyes, and if Antares knew any better, it was the same fire that bristled within him.
