 There was tension in the desert. Evren had not noticed it at first, young as she was, but as the months passed and neither her father, mother, or sister returned, it began to grow in her peripheral awareness. Things were different now, and not in a good way. She could not quite pinpoint what she felt, or what had caused it, until the day her brother took her aside and told her to keep an eye on the rest of the herd, especially Vita Nova. "She is not loyal to us," Koray had told her in a hushed whisper. "She will leave if we are not careful, and we are not safe unless we are together. You must watch her, and tell me of any disloyal behavior. Can you do that, Evren? Can you help me keep our herd safe?"
She had agreed heartily. The prospect of being a spy was exciting, and it kept her voracious mind busy, at least for a while. But growing up has a way of making one see the world differently, of picking up on subtle cues and nuances that you did not see before. In Evren's case, though it was some months yet before she would be considered a mare, paying Vita Nova extra attention and trying to anticipate what she might do on a daily basis began to open the filly's eyes. Koray had painted a picture of a traitor hiding in their midst, but to her Vita Nova just looked like an ordinary, if perhaps a bit of a lonely, mare. She kept her distance from the herd for the most part, but then, didn't they all? The desert was much less sociable than it had once been, and that wasn't Vita Nova's fault. If what Koray said was true, and the young mare was a flight risk, perhaps it was only because she had no friends in her own home. Soon enough, Evren began to feel sorry for Vita.
Still she kept her distance, however, determined to treat the young mare like a subject to be studied - until she had a similarly grounding realization about Koray. She had begun to watch him almost as she watched Vita Nova, especially when the two were together, and saw that there was a growing malice in his behavior. He caused problems where there were none, approached situations with a bad attitude, and generally tried to micromanage every aspect of their life in the desert. It was stifling, and frustrating to see once Evren had learned to recognize it. He was an inept leader, and seemed to know it, but rather than try to improve and remember what Orhan might have done, Koray only became more stubborn and bad-tempered. Evren had not known him in his youth, or whether he had always been like this, but she soon decided that it was a side of him she did not like.
This was how she came to secretly side with Vita Nova. When the mare left the desert, Evren took note, but said nothing to Koray. Thankfully, he was usually otherwise occupied by obsessively patrolling the borders, so she did not think he ever actually saw Vita leave. Occasionally he would ask where she was, but Evren would make up some lie - Vita was exploring, Vita was stretching her legs, Vita had gone patrolling in the opposite direction. Usually Koray was satisfied with these explanations, though whether he truly believed them or not was another matter. Evren had a deep, instinctual feeling in her gut that one day he might explode.
She struggled to make sense of all of this, and where she fit into it. But within her had been sparked a fire, and she could feel an undeniable truth in her bones: that she was capable of, and was possibly destined for, something big.
In the waning autumn light, the tobiano filly lifted her head and looked out across the warm orange sea of sand. She was her father's daughter, and this was her home. She was not sure how yet, but she would do Orhan proud. He, and her mother and sister, deserved to come home to a place that was better than it was now.
EVREN
1.5 yrs; EE Aa nT; 15.3hh wfg |