Suddenly I stirred. My eyes felt stuck, lids stiff like stone, resisting my curiosity.

How long had it been? How long since I knew the warm grass and chill evening air? The wind whistling through my antlers?

That's right... That wind. That warm wind cutting through the twilight, carrying with it the stories of a thousand mile journey. That warm embrace...

Just a peek now...

Is it true, then? Has Breeze awakened from that dream? It is all so very still. Even the grass seems resistant to sway in the early morn. Dare I part the muzzle that has, for so many moons, thought only to breathe the slightest breath?

I cannot bring myself to call out. I cannot bring myself to look. I can't yet know what it is I am in this moment. I am so very afraid. Should I rise too soon before the world is remade beneath me I may become just a smudge on this canvas of clouds and stars.

I do not wish to become lost beyond the roof of the world. I wish to remain here and run once more through the infinite emerald sea.

There is more dreaming to be done, yet. These bones ache to resume their flight, all the same.

Let my eyes shut again, to return once more to the evening realm... That I may, on the morrow, return to the waking world I once called my home.

The days following my awakening have been so dark and cold. I know the forest mourns the loss of the one who's name, so proudly roared across the hills, is Run. I did not know her face, but I knew her blood and the wind she breathed. Those are a part of me, and it is those that bring the tears to my face when I lower my horns to the candle-lit circle... To the star that visits us from the night.

It is this cold, this sadness, and the strange faces that surround me that make my re-awakening so difficult. The little ones... Children... They startle me so and flit around me with such bright eyes. I do so wish not to scare them... Or hurt them. I fear my stagger, my old eyes... They cause worry and fear in the young ones.

So many others bound about, bellow familiar sounds to unfamiliar scents. I watch myself in the still of the pond, letting the fish circle around my ever aging visage. I find myself frequently visiting the glittering star, letting loose the tears.

---

Tonight I feel stronger. The winds are still cold, and bring the strange stars that turn to tears upon my cheek, but there are some young ones bounding about. I roar and dance with them, bounding along the hills. Perhaps they do not shun me after all.

A doe finds me on another visit to [Run]'s star. She seems puzzled by my sadness. Her scent is strong and familiar. She perhaps remembers me... I cannot recall her roar or her... No... Not completely.

Her neck meets my own, rubbing softly... So very warm. I cannot bear to show her my tears... I bellow and flee, secretly hoping she may give chase. She seems to know my ways... Share my age. She bounds after me and we stop on the bridge by the pond.

This is my favorite place... Quiet and tranquil. My heart races, my body no longer cold, as she comes up beside me and lays with me above the trickling waters. Her scent... Her warmth... So quickly lull me to slumber.