Pilar stopped snickering when she realized a mare had spotted her. She supposed being greeted by a mare was not at all unusual, but since it was not the scenario she had rehearsed in her mind, it made for a situation a little less humorous than anticipated. However, there was a chance Kasabian would still manage to find her here eventually. From the brief interaction they had, he didn’t seem like he was particularly slow-witted or oblivious. She suspected he would miss her arrival at the Ridge and come looking for her. And that, Pilar imagined, is when the fun would begin. For now, it couldn’t hurt to fraternize with the locals a little.

She tilted her head slightly, her inwardly curved ears twisting atop her head as her new companion spoke. Yet instead of listening to exactly what she was saying, Pilar chose to address her odd manner of speech.

“You have an interesting accent. Where are you from?”

She was actually curious, and felt the answer to this question was a much more pressing issue than her own business here. She already knew this wasn’t where she was supposed to live, and she knew the stallion she was supposed to be looking for was Kasabian, not ‘Sawhin,’ whoever that was.

“I’m Pilar, by the way.”

Pilar returned a kind smile, and lowered her head slightly, taking a step closer to Dia and lowering her voice.

“You want to know a secret? I’ll tell you, but you have to promise to pretend like you don’t know!”


pilar

photo © Sally Mann