Fairspell Meadow breaker of the dawn

The boy was gone. In his place was the ambitious sister.

Akhtar did not seethe. He did not hiss like a serpent. He did not fuss like a child denied a treat. No, he calculated, pressed and pushed.

He slipped away from the Mesa at the earliest hours of morning, when no one expected him to be awake. He walked, and walked, and walked, his eyes almost crossed from how hard he was thinking. His steps only rolled to a halt when he found himself in the meadow beside the mesa, and his eyes caught them.

Bucks. Fighting each other for the does clustered in the background, blood drooling from their noses and their tines entwined.

Akhtar could not look away. He stood, a silent witness, and watched.