Falls

The mist of the falls was soothing.

Like a balm to chafing lips, the rhythmic pounding of the water slowly thrummed through Hala's aching body. The mare's knees were slightly swollen, her haunches cramped and sore. It was only after hours upon hours of silence and isolation, hours of relaxing in darkness under the mists gentle caress that she was finally able to emit the softest of sighs. To breathe instead of gasp. To rest instead of fight. To stand instead of swim.

It had been a long, tiresome journey. One she had not been prepared to make until it was already made. The dappled mare had climbed onto these unfamiliar shores upon nightfall, seeking a refuge she prayed existed somewhere that she could not yet see. It was a blind, foolish faith that she put in her fate, a mistake she should have corrected long ago. But she hoped none the less. It was all she could do.

The moon was not with her the night she had washed ashore. There was no glow to help follow a path she did not know, no comforting source of light nor stars to lead the way. Hala was met only with silence as she followed the faint scents of equine, leaving the distant crashing of waves behind. The farther she dragged her hooves the stronger the scents became, the smell of fresh water overwhelmingly comforting from the salt of the sea still dried and crusted on her pelt. It wasn't long until she found sanctuary beneath the falls, pressed in seclusion to rest in its shroud of mist. It was the only true form of shelter she had felt in a long, long time.

When morning came she found herself staring into the shallows of the water, quietly contemplating the blurred reflection that stared back. It was not a strangers face she saw, but perhaps for the first time one she truly recognized as her own. There was a part of her surprised by the fact that she had made it to mornings dawn, that despite the struggles of the past Hala was still standing to face the present, albeit tired and bitter from the cost of moving forward in life. It was a meager price to pay for a sense of freedom, she supposed.

As daylight burned faint sounds of other equines grew more prominent but Hala kept her peace by the waters edge. Quiet. Alone. Maybe in time she would find the will to explore this new paradise, but for now it seemed only right to quietly bask in what it had to offer in reverent stillness. Afterall, it was a peace she had not known in quite some time.