Imp grazed, content with her thoughts in the silence and the sun.

Her internal focus was on her aunt, her surrogate dam, the mare who’d raised her and deflected Jezibelle’s rage with her words and, on occasion, her body. Impa had been withdrawn and taciturn lately but only when Imp could see: the chestnut mare had observed the older mare interact with others on the Peak and had seen her slip into the mask. Should she feel privileged that the black mare did not hide her true emotions when they were together? Maybe.

Imp certainly enjoyed watching Impa shift between expressions whenever someone new showed up. The mare held herself well despite what must be a heavy weight of whatever her emotional burdens were, aware that her posture could be seen and noted from a distance. Imp was both impressed by her aunt’s foresight and curious as to what was eating away at her to cause such a cloud to hover around her face. It seemed like every time Imp tried to talk to her, it took two or three attempts to get the older mare’s attention. Annoying, but also intriguing.

Another horse’s call pulled Imp from her thoughts and raised the young mare’s head. Her hunger was sated enough that her interest in whoever had made the call propelled her forward, and soon the chestnut girl was trotting across the angled slope and toward the stand of trees where another horse stood. She thought she recognized the other— hadn’t Impa been talking to someone that pale the other day? Imp tossed her head and bucked. It felt good to move, and she was excited to finally talk to someone. Impa’s problems were interesting but holy shit was she boring company lately.

“Hey!” Imp called as she came upon the other horse and slowed to a halt. She pawed the earth with one feathered hoof and suppressed a grin. “Don’t you know there’s no trespassing?” she continued, and held her serious expression for only a moment longer before a smile crept over her face and she winked. “Kidding. You been up here before? You look familiar.” Which was only half of a lie, to be fair— Imp did think she’d seen the other mare before, even if it was from a pretty great distance.