Inka

"I am looking for a mare called Inka," the stranger said, and Inka stiffened in surprise, jerking her head just an inch or two higher. She did not reply immediately, instead taking a moment to look over this stranger and rack her brains for any memory of them meeting before. Inka did not leave the Peak often, however, and she remembered just about every new face she met. This mare was not one of them. Had she come bearing news of one of her children, then? Had Adelheid been causing trouble among the islands?

Her heart beat a little faster, and she became aware that Jasiri was looking at her strangely. The mare then announced that she had a proposition, which dashed Inka's suspicions that this meeting concerned her children. Perplexed, she shifted her weight and flicked one ear back. "I am Inka," she replied warily. "Let's hear this proposition of yours, Jasiri." While she waited for a response, her mind raced with the possibilities. Did this mare have a deal to make with the Vulcans? No, that couldn't be it, if it concerned only drafts like herself.

What, then? She hadn't the foggiest idea of what proposition could make a strange mare climb all the way to the top of a mountain.