This was absolutely unexpected, but a wonderful surprise. While scrawling some Arvian lore, I wrote a short piece about the SunTouched, and sent it to  gryph000, only to wake up the next day with this in my inbox from her! The excerpt for this panel is below! This is page 2 of 2.

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“I’m not as good at any of this as the rest of my group. All the others make fun of me, and call me slow.”

Raising his hand to his chin, the sun priest stroked his claws along the underside of his beak, taking a moment in thought.

“Hmmm, that is concerning. Tell me, what have you learned of the flame?”

“That the brightest flames illuminate the most.”

“Ahhh, but they also burn the fastest. Illumination is not a race. It is a journey. The very sun we thank for our blessings burns slowest of all, millions of years, and yet, it is the brightest in the sky.”

Slowly, he stretched his arm out, bringing his robe with it to cast a shadow over the initiate, covering the sunlight entirely. With a whispered word, and a snap of his fingers on his free hand, a spark emerged, burning brightly between his talons.

“But in darkness, even the smallest lights can fill a space with their light, burn they bright or low.”

The child nodded, tail staring to wag as he understood the lesson.

“Yes, elder.”

“Good. Go on now. Your mentors will be wondering where you’ve gotten to if you are late.”