Time stood still, paralyzed, a slow-moving glacier lost at sea. With a huge, empty sky above and the glaring depths of an ocean below. Everything was perfect, perfectly placed. A world made up of methodical strokes, frozen forever in its purity. But purity never lasts.

First came the cracks, soft and silvery against the pale blue stone. They began to grow, flowing like rivers through the body of the chrysalis. Crackled, shimmering veins. Then came the sound, and the sound…the sound was awful. The first thing she experienced was that sound. Sharp and thorny in her young ears, and every time it stopped it only rose again. When she’d thought the storm was over.

Ashe scrunched up her nose and began to shift as if to go back to sleep, a terrible mistake. At the merest touch of her body, the slightest bit of new, unexplored pressure, the chrysalis shattered. The pieces flew like pearls slipping from the end of a broken necklace. And Ashe, the missing pendant, came down along with them. A struggling note escaped her lips, and her eyes widened. What a strange thing it is, to have a voice.

The cub incorporated herself slowly, it had been quite the fall. For her anyway, the chrysalis had only been slightly above ground, embedded in one of the cave walls. Now her temporary palace was in shambles, a beautiful disaster glinting in the dim, flickering light.

Her helpless mewling filled the disturbed silence. She felt ejected and bare, overwhelmed by this whole array of new sights, smells and sounds. It was the most terrifying onslaught, and the only thing she could hold on to was the warmth of her own body.

Alone, and afraid, the princess had finally left her tower.

"Speech"

Me, I'm a scene, I'm a drama queen

Amidst the blur of senses, the hitting sound and the blobs of color gazed at through a veil of tears, came the footfalls. They alerted her, instinctively perhaps, but she didn’t know what they meant. She didn’t know what anything meant really. Only this…this sickening feeling in her stomach. This overwhelming loneliness.

And as the steps came closer, a face appeared before her milky eyes. The features undiscernible. The girl was too young to wonder whether they were friend or foe. It was simply a presence, a foothold in this huge daunting world.

Ashe’s ears swept forward, catching the stranger’s voice. She attempted to stand, to lift her soft and tiny body away from the cold earth, but all she managed was to rock back onto her haunches once more and fall onto her back.

The cub rolled onto her belly, sniffling. She peered up at the face once more, this time with a little more clarity. “Gah!” came her cry. Not a word, but how could she know that? Her tongue was still foreign to her, more of a toy than a tool in her unexperienced paws. Ashe smiled, she delighted in it, her voice. Being loud. “Gah!” she repeated happily.

Ashe looked at the other gembound expectantly, would she also celebrate this finding of her voice?

"Speech"

Me, I'm a scene, I'm a drama queen