Though they had only stayed a couple days on Tinuvel, the waning daylight hours and freezing nights had proved too much for them. Jetta desired something warmer, she said, so they both made for Atlantis - a fair trip from Tinuvel that required a long swim through unfamiliar waters, for neither of them had ever visited the tropical isle. Uncle Gent had in his youth, and he had fond memories of its lush forests and golden beaches. His stories had made it sound so appealing that it seemed the most natural place to go after experiencing nights so cold that even their bones ached.
Yet something in Wade’s mother had changed in the short time they’d been on Tinuvel, and it was not from the cold. At one point she had left to “go on a walk” and come back almost giddy and smelling strongly of Requiem. It had not taken much thought for Wade to deduce what she had been up to. Ever since then Jetta had seemed lost in her own little world - more so than usual, that is - and by the time they arrived on the warm, sandy beaches of Atlantis, Wade had given up on conversation with her.
As they moved inland, however, Wade became aware that something else was amiss. Jetta could not seem to stop stumbling over every little root and rock, and when Wade asked if she was all right, she seemed to not hear him. Wade really looked at her then, and his stomach plummeted when he saw how exhausted she looked, and how glazed-over her blue eyes were. Her dark bay pelt was covered in a fine sheen of sweat that seemed excessive even for the humidity of this place.
Wade saw it coming before it happened. One moment Jetta was tilting slightly to the left, the next she was careening to the ground like a dead tree. Wade rushed to her and ducked his head beneath hers to catch it before it hit the ground, but the rest of her landed with a heavy thud. Her entire body stiffened, then thrashed wildly, her hooves scraping the earth and her eyes rolling back in her head. Wade crouched beside her, his neck laying over hers to stop her from bashing her head against a rock, and waited. It was all he could do.
2; mutt; buckskin varnish roan splash; 16.0hh
zevulun x jetta |