Of Three Sunsets and the Storm

Of the Three Sunsets and the Storm

-The First Sunset-

A snout tracked the air atop a bald hill following a path directing to a collision of hunters. The thunder heads rolled in from the south and the clouds touched down in the distance in the form of a down pour strong enough to topple lesser houses of wood and nails. The sky poured down like hair ebbing and flowing in water but never letting up. But upon the hill overlooking the coming struggle, the air was still.

The two hunters circled each other atop the hill, a mother and daughter were almost sad as they finally reached the top. With a wicked bolt forked and twisting across the sunset, the muzzles and teeth flashed.

The elder of the two was the mother thus the younger was the daughter. With your head lowered they would appear as gentle women of the country side, or perhaps a woman of the caravans. To add to these illusions, the mother was more sophisticated and efficient in her form. Her stance brought out a proud posture which was made authoritative with her countenance.

She wore a wild and passionate form of a young black-haired girl with a narrow chinned, short nose, and possessing more height than the locals, tanned skin despite the colder climate, a villainous smile, and possession an uncommon muscle tone that did not distract from her womanly charm and appearance. This form was part of her of her entity but merely one of dozens of forms. But this was all appearance and was placed with purpose and an intent to fabricate a female. With the next flash, the head of a wolf laughed out a high and malicious snicker. The jaws of death were revealed.

These were changelings, mischievous and cunning in the vilest ways. Yet from the outside, their cruelties have an angelic aftertaste only they can season.

The younger of these bizarre creatures' carries an eye of eagerness and the promise of a hunt. She gave a curtsy to her mother across from her at the summit of the grassy hill with her elegant dress beneath her cloak. Her form was simple, a merchant's daughter, guised under a traveling cloak. With the face of a lioness she grinned with enthusiasm. She wears less of the local clothes, than purely cloth. She is wrapped tightly in hundreds of strips of gauze cloth and sashes. Then adorning her body rests a colorful fur robe. The sleeves are removed and the hole for the arms is opened to reveal the fabric inside of her attire.

The two had destined this day, at the first bolt of lightning, to signal their meeting. The creatures had met for the fifteenth time in their lives. A fifty-year span between fifteen meetings meant that the youngest was already seven hundred and fifty years old and still empowered with the spirit of youth. Naive at seven-hundred and fifty but joyful for it. She abandoned her disguise. For once again she could relish her original form.

It was both soothing and good for reflection to meet and enjoy the company of another changeling more so her mother. But all changelings cannot do this so for long. They loved to take part in pleasantries of a long overdue reunion but their own nature compelled them on to treachery. The usual conversation and retelling of decades were great for a visit but proved time consuming as the night approached. Very time consuming. Each could not wait to escape the company of the other, but neither the mother nor the daughter truly wished for this moment to end.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, I'm looking for someone younger. Someone with potential, maybe a young man, a young lass, someone out to seek their fortunes. That'd be nice wouldn't it. A good sixty or seventy years of freedom." The younger girl said while walking merrily back and forth along the crest of the hill. Her teeth glittered with hunger as a bolt of lightning flashes before them in the distance. The lioness head girl yawns a predator's sigh, teeth and jaws uncovered and on display. Dreads from the back of her head coil down. Her eyes cannot decide if they should be sorrow filled or pleased at their parting but they knew it was the time.