Daily sketch #173 // Pandora's box: Meditation

Hey guys,

Hope you're having a good start of the week. I decided to start mine with the first larger depiction of the thane, for lovely Aksan <3

He wrote a short story, to help you guys get some deeper insight into this scene...
So I invite anyone who's interested to read it below!
Credit goes to Aksan of course and to Voidsung for helping out <3

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Meditation

He huffed onto the ground before him. Not quite flames, the hot draft was enough to boil away the water and he sat down. Looking back down the trail he’d walked, he saw the wet path his heat had melted through the snow. He chuffed in amusement.

Further back along the path he walked, back where he’d begun this morning, he saw his castle. The thick clumping blizzard of the night before had stopped and the blue-grey castle glittered beneath the rising sun. He settled down as the voice of his shadow crept into the back of his mind.

“Everything faring well?” she wordlessly asked.

A nod, to himself, but the affirmation translated to her and she relaxed the link, leaving him to his thoughts. Refugees, recruitment, trade deals, let that go with her. He did not have to hold court today so now would be his time to find some stillness. Beyond the castle was the bridge, the little hamlet on Pilgrim’s Mount, further down still lay Hightown.

It was all still far above the timberline. A joy of his walk today had been the brief sojourn down through the trees to find this isolated peak. He curled his tail around him and settled his hands in his lap. Letting his big eyes drift closed, he found the note of the wind, dissecting the thrums and whistles it made as it rushed through his horns.

Noise and void now, darkness below. He let himself fall, felt the weightlessness throughout his heavy form. In the peaceful dark the sounds at his ears slowly gave way to the heaving bellows of his lungs, the deep, resonant beating of his heart, behind that the chorus of blood shimmering through his veins. Perception detached from reality, and with it time was lost.

Slowly, finally emerging, he found a new sound. Alongside the whistles and thrums of the consistent wind; soft breathing. Too soft to be his own. Before he opened his eyes the source became clear, a warm weight had made its way into his lap. It seemed, as it moved slightly and purred, to be fluffy.

Opening his eyes he could see the edges of the grey, spotted cat. A lynx perhaps? He’d heard of them in these mountains but rarely seen one from as close as the same mountain. It seemed content, leaching his heat but stirred as he moved his hands to reveal it. Expecting it to run he was perplexed when, instead, it took the opportunity to climb his arm, soon leaping onto his horns and out of his sight.

Reaching behind his head he gently lifted the adolescent by the scruff of the neck and brought it round to face him. Eye to eye, the lynx seemed confused, the thane smirked. Until a few moments ago he must have simply been a warm statue. The creature mewed and he attempted to replicate the noise. Seeing the cat freeze in panic and hearing the movement of snow above he thought better of a second attempt.

“Alright, little one,” he said as he carefully put it down on the ground, “Thank you for the company I suppose, but I have to be getting back now I’m afraid.” As he glanced around he saw the sun had already disappeared behind the peaks. Long beams of light still pierced the valleys below and the gentle pinkish glow of the dusk painted the blue tinged mountains in a beautiful palette. Well over a millenia walking upon the face of Teryte and he still found these mountains beautiful.

Stretching and rolling out his body he shifted up to his feet and began the long walk home. The path he had walked out was still clear, but had acquired a gentle dusting of snow while he meditated. These brave and lonely flakes vanished as he drew near, the sheer heat he radiated enough to clear his path through these mountains.

A small touch brushed his foot after a while walking and drew his gaze.

“Oh, that's how it’s going to be, is it, little one?”