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Description

  “Ally, I can’t sleep.”

  A small hand and even smaller voice prodded Alastair awake. The cervitaur groggily opened an eye to view the child anxiously peering down at him, and rubbed his hand over his face. “... You wanna go for a walk again?”

  The sibling nodded.

  Alastair sighed. “Alright.” He got to his legs, stretched his hind ones behind him, briefly shook himself, and carefully stepped around their parents and out of the tent flap into the brisk winter air, followed close by the younger kid. They headed where they always did when the one awoke the other - up the nearest hill or mountainous rise. Never terribly far from the camp, but enough distance to loosen the muscles and not be heard by any prying ears. Alastair felt a smaller hand slip into his own.

  The two trekked towards the peak in silence. Their breath was visible in the chill air, the frost and snow-caked grass crunching beneath their hooves, the two hands warm in each other. Neither had brought a cloak, their natural winter coats and layers of fat plenty enough insulation for this time of year.

  At last they crested the bluff. The tundra plains stretched out beneath them in all directions, flanked by rocky snow-kissed mountains, all beneath the most brilliant dance of greens and lilacs sprawling across the star spattered sky. The two siblings were breathless, though not from the walk - no matter how many times they sat and watched the lights, it never got old.

  A silence ensued as the two savoured the light show. Just the two of them and the glorious feat of nature.

  After a time, the voice to Alastair’s left said, "Tell me the story again.”

  He chuckled, having told this same story time and time again, just as it had been told to him, but began the murmur nonetheless:

  “Eons ago, after the Creator had finished making the world, and had formed the Earth, the Elements, the ocean, the stars, the sky, and everything, He created Life, too. And from Life He created all species of people. The clay from which He sculpted souls was mixed with oceanwater to produce mermaids, to tend the seas; magma, for dragons, to rule the skies; soil, to form centaurs and cervitaurs, guardians of the land; and all the rest, all equal; the leftover clay on its own becoming humans, children of all elements.

  The Creator couldn’t decide what to do with the freed souls: give their energy back to the Earth to be recycled? Form new bodies for them to return to?

  At last, at the behest of the mourning of his Peoples, He finally decided to allow the spirits to soar freely over the land, given the gift of watching over their still-living loved ones, and appearing to us as these bright and dancing colours of their souls.

  And now that’s where everyone goes. Our great-grandpa is up there, and aunt Ahnah, and one day mom and dad will be there too, and you and me.”

  He watched the other silently ponder this. Then look very pointedly at him. “Don't go without me.”

  A laugh escaped Alastair. “Unfortunately, I don’t get a say in that. But I do promise that if I do go before you, I’ll make extra sure the sky is all ready for you, and gather up a whole bunch of dog spirits to meet you when it’s your turn. But more importantly, I promise to stick around as long as I can with you, and be the best darn brother you could ever have.”

  “You’ll be my best friend forever?”

  “... Yeah. Forever.”

  “Promise?” A small pink was held out towards him.

The older brother took it firmly in his own and solemnly met the bright brown eyes. “Promise.”

  The pinky promise led into a hug, Alastair crouching slightly to meet the other's height.

  And soon enough they were headed back down the slope, past the seal and caribou skinned dwellings of their neighbours' to their own, tiptoeing once again past their dozing parents, to their respective furs stretched out on the ground.

  A quiet "I love you" was whispered, and replied to, and at last sleep retook the two siblings, as bright colours overhead danced a familiar lullaby.

~~~

finally finished this art to go along with this writing, so I can share them together! :>
had the idea and thumbnail for aaages but after reading a whole bunch of tokota lore yesterday and seeing nice arts for em (I'll never take part in closed species but I do appreciate some of them from afar), I got major inspired to do some northern lightsy stuff myself so finished this within like 2 hours :𝔻 I am so pleased with it and it was fun to do as alwaysss, blueish space stuff is one of my FAV things to paint <33
btw, made a neat 3D version here too 'u'

emil and alastair when they were kids~ (hence why I avoid using pronouns for him here - this was looong before emil had transitioned or realized he was masc at all but I didn't wanna call him 'she' either :') )

centaurs and cervitaurs don't actually have full 8 hour sleeps once a night like humans do, since like other ungulates their organs are heavy enough that lying down for too long is uncomfy, so they tend to sleep for around 4 hour twice a day (more for kids and adolescents, less for adults and elders), but just happened to be their naptime here and is night anyway cause in the arctic winter it's always night xD

also, most of their art so far is canon to both the modern day canon setting and also the DnD au lol; and the end here feels a bit like foreshadowing for their DnD one ahah, together forever indeed ;u;

Description

  “Ally, I can’t sleep.”

  A small hand and even smaller voice prodded Alastair awake. The cervitaur groggily opened an eye to view the child anxiously peering down at him, and rubbed his hand over his face. “... You wanna go for a walk again?”

  The sibling nodded.

  Alastair sighed. “Alright.” He got to his legs, stretched his hind ones behind him, briefly shook himself, and carefully stepped around their parents and out of the tent flap into the brisk winter air, followed close by the younger kid. They headed where they always did when the one awoke the other - up the nearest hill or mountainous rise. Never terribly far from the camp, but enough distance to loosen the muscles and not be heard by any prying ears. Alastair felt a smaller hand slip into his own.

  The two trekked towards the peak in silence. Their breath was visible in the chill air, the frost and snow-caked grass crunching beneath their hooves, the two hands warm in each other. Neither had brought a cloak, their natural winter coats and layers of fat plenty enough insulation for this time of year.

  At last they crested the bluff. The tundra plains stretched out beneath them in all directions, flanked by rocky snow-kissed mountains, all beneath the most brilliant dance of greens and lilacs sprawling across the star spattered sky. The two siblings were breathless, though not from the walk - no matter how many times they sat and watched the lights, it never got old.

  A silence ensued as the two savoured the light show. Just the two of them and the glorious feat of nature.

  After a time, the voice to Alastair’s left said, "Tell me the story again.”

  He chuckled, having told this same story time and time again, just as it had been told to him, but began the murmur nonetheless:

  “Eons ago, after the Creator had finished making the world, and had formed the Earth, the Elements, the ocean, the stars, the sky, and everything, He created Life, too. And from Life He created all species of people. The clay from which He sculpted souls was mixed with oceanwater to produce mermaids, to tend the seas; magma, for dragons, to rule the skies; soil, to form centaurs and cervitaurs, guardians of the land; and all the rest, all equal; the leftover clay on its own becoming humans, children of all elements.

  The Creator couldn’t decide what to do with the freed souls: give their energy back to the Earth to be recycled? Form new bodies for them to return to?

  At last, at the behest of the mourning of his Peoples, He finally decided to allow the spirits to soar freely over the land, given the gift of watching over their still-living loved ones, and appearing to us as these bright and dancing colours of their souls.

  And now that’s where everyone goes. Our great-grandpa is up there, and aunt Ahnah, and one day mom and dad will be there too, and you and me.”

  He watched the other silently ponder this. Then look very pointedly at him. “Don't go without me.”

  A laugh escaped Alastair. “Unfortunately, I don’t get a say in that. But I do promise that if I do go before you, I’ll make extra sure the sky is all ready for you, and gather up a whole bunch of dog spirits to meet you when it’s your turn. But more importantly, I promise to stick around as long as I can with you, and be the best darn brother you could ever have.”

  “You’ll be my best friend forever?”

  “... Yeah. Forever.”

  “Promise?” A small pink was held out towards him.

The older brother took it firmly in his own and solemnly met the bright brown eyes. “Promise.”

  The pinky promise led into a hug, Alastair crouching slightly to meet the other's height.

  And soon enough they were headed back down the slope, past the seal and caribou skinned dwellings of their neighbours' to their own, tiptoeing once again past their dozing parents, to their respective furs stretched out on the ground.

  A quiet "I love you" was whispered, and replied to, and at last sleep retook the two siblings, as bright colours overhead danced a familiar lullaby.

~~~

finally finished this art to go along with this writing, so I can share them together! :>
had the idea and thumbnail for aaages but after reading a whole bunch of tokota lore yesterday and seeing nice arts for em (I'll never take part in closed species but I do appreciate some of them from afar), I got major inspired to do some northern lightsy stuff myself so finished this within like 2 hours :𝔻 I am so pleased with it and it was fun to do as alwaysss, blueish space stuff is one of my FAV things to paint <33
btw, made a neat 3D version here too 'u'

emil and alastair when they were kids~ (hence why I avoid using pronouns for him here - this was looong before emil had transitioned or realized he was masc at all but I didn't wanna call him 'she' either :') )

centaurs and cervitaurs don't actually have full 8 hour sleeps once a night like humans do, since like other ungulates their organs are heavy enough that lying down for too long is uncomfy, so they tend to sleep for around 4 hour twice a day (more for kids and adolescents, less for adults and elders), but just happened to be their naptime here and is night anyway cause in the arctic winter it's always night xD

also, most of their art so far is canon to both the modern day canon setting and also the DnD au lol; and the end here feels a bit like foreshadowing for their DnD one ahah, together forever indeed ;u;