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"No, no, Silver." He shook his head, placing gentle hands on the hoglets shoulders.
"You're too tense. You must let go."
Silver huffed frustratedly, "I'm trying!" He slumped.
The elder shook his head again, "You're thinking too much about it."
Silver bit his lip, and looked down, dejected.
Shadow leaned back with a sigh. He sat there a moment, watching the young hog drag a finger in the dirt. He then looked up. A light grey sky. Not of clouds, but of smoke. He looked past the shade of the dying tree they sat beneath, and at the red sun.
* * *
"Look, look what I found!" A white little hoglet with big golden eyes padded up to him excitedly, holding a shell up high.
"Oh, wow! That's very neat." Shadow smiled, patting his head.
The hoglet giggled and ran back to the edge of the shore.
Shadow knew the world was doomed.
He knew any mobian still alive would die in the years or months to come.
He knew Silver would never see the sky in blue.
The ocean was the closest he'd come.
Shadow would be sure he saw it.
Even if just this once.
And so he watched him there, near the edge of the salty, lively sky. Watching as he ran along the shore, picking up every object of interest. And Shadow listened... to the sound of dry leaves rustling... the hush of the oscillating waves.
* * *
...
"... Silver?"
"Mm." He mumbled, still looking down, cheek on his fist.
"Do you remember the ocean?"
He looked up, "Yeah."
"Do you... remember the way the waves moved on the shore?"
Silver nodded.
"The way it sounded?"
He sat up with another nod.
"Good." Shadow shifted, sitting straight, hands resting on his knees. Silver followed. "Now, close your eyes... "
The hoglet did so.
"Imagine the shore. The water rising and receding."
Silvers brow furrowed slightly. The soft, crunching sand beneath him. The open ocean reaching on forever. And, the waves lapping at his paws, their soft crashing in his ears.
A voice came in...
"Do you see it?"
"Yes, I do." He said quietly, still watching the water.
The voice went on, "That is your breath, your energy."
Silver felt himself take in air, his shoulders resting as he let it out in tandem with the shoreline.
The voice was quieter now, "Listen, Silver. Let the sound be all you hear..."
He did so.
...
It was dark. A gentle dark. Warm.
A cyan glow flowed in like a trickling stream.
Familiar energy.
Not quite his.
But granted to him. To be used at his will.
A blanket for him when in need of comfort.
A guiding light when he fears the dark.
It often entered uninvited. But welcomed nonetheless.
Though, this time, it tapped softly. Asking.
He let it in.