The massive stallion didn't respond at first, but Jasiri refused to let her mood falter. She let her grin shrink into a tugging smile that never let her lips still, turning her head to the side to stare intently at the stallion as he mulled over his thoughts. She tried to subdue her eagerness as it roared inside her. Her feelings and thoughts clashed like the waves far out in the ocean as she tried to pick out any subtle changes in his body language, looking for any hints of what was churning in his mind.
And then he spoke.
Jasiri grinned even wider than before and lifted her head high into the air, attempting to surpass his height and gaze down at him. She curiously watched him slide into a foreign pose, but her eyes still gleamed at his answer. Her lips twitched gleefully. "Jasiri," she practically purred. This island held good things. She could feel the luck within her stirring and working its magic. Already she owned a territory and a stallion to start her herd. Like a tsunami, her good luck had fled to reveal her beach of bad luck, but now it rushed back to engulf her with newfound strength, covering and drowning her dry, gritty misfortunes. She glowed. Her front hooves lifted off the ground at the thought. Her weight shifted in the half-rear and she fell heavily back to the ground, like gravity shackled her before she could escape in her euphoria.
She couldn't believe she had missed the signs before. Her luck always stayed close besides her. She should have noticed it's disappearance was good, not bad at all, when her old herd approached these Islands. Her luck had held out long enough to deliver her to the next adventure. These Islands were more than an escape; they were the next chapter of her life. "Areo Hotah," she tested his name on her tongue, "where are you from? Are there more of you?" She had to ask. It itched to not know where such an astonishing stallion came from. |