Common

Perhaps, part of the reason Jaci was so unaffected by the disasters, the monsters, the sadness, and the ugly of the world, was because she had grown up in a some what isolated place. Her mountain was her mountain, and while she visited the other mountain tops and the families that swore to protect them, Jaci didn't travel outside the valley that lay cradled beneath the snowcapped peaks. Not until now that is. Now she has traveled through a sweltering jungle, she has seen a great waterfall, and upon arrival to these islands, Jaci has seen something she has always wanted to see her young life.

The ocean.

When baby blues played upon the vast expanse of water, she had almost wept with joy at the beauty of it all, the endlessness of it. Jaci imagined that this was the closest thing to looking at eternity. The ocean was infinity.

And Jaci could not be any happier to revel in her joy with her new found friend. And just as Orkaan wishes to hear stories, so too does Jaci, she wants to hear the stories of these islands she has found, of who walked upon the ground before she ever did. And she wants to hear about him and what makes his amber eyes glow with fire, what did he dream about when he slumbered, and what he thought about late at night when he ought to be asleep. Jaci, the girl who rivals freshly fallen snow, wants to know everything about her new friend.

She doesn't understand the danger of other stallions that could attempt to take her, she doesn't know that on these islands, there is fighting, there is theft. She doesn't know anything about that, she just knows that Orkaan has a wonderful smile, and she hopes that right now, she is the cause of it. Jaci wanted to make everyone smile, and for the most part, she certainly did.

His words, speaking of her being a prize, and a raiding stallion, she tilts her pale head with eyes of baby blue. She doesn't quite understand what these words mean. Her family had never raided, and they had never been raided, there were dangers around the surrounding mountains, sure, but for the most part, her childhood had been entirely peaceful. Days were spent basking in the sun, frolicking in the snow, and picking flowers for her mother, father, and grandmother. So she doesn't dwell on these thoughts. “I cannot wait to meet my new friends,” she says excitedly. Everyone in her old home were friends, so why wouldn't she be friends with everyone in her new home?

Jaci lives for stories, stories of the past, stories of the present, stories of fiction, stories of life. So when he says that magical word to her, baby blues light up and she cannot help the reckless grin that slides over her face. Images of her childhood, leaning against her crimson mother race through her mind. Sleepy eyes refusing to close, Jaci pleading in her small, baby voice for just one more tale.

When he reaches for her and brushes back a piece of her pale, white mane, she looks up to him and smiles once again, but it is not so reckless, it is shyer, softer. Jaci was still so unused to the touch a man, and it still excites her. And when he speaks of the night and how beautiful it is, she cannot even speak and she simply nods in agreement as he continues to speak to her in his deep baritones. She then giggles, high pitched and girly. “My name means moon,” she says, her head tilting slightly in amusement. That the grandson of a moon-lover would be meeting the girl named for the largest light of the night sky. “Can we look at the sky tonight? There is something so enchanting about a full moon of a winter’s snow,” and in her voice is a sort of longing and a dreamlike quality as she already begins imagining the moonlight casting upon the blanket of white.