Don’t forget who you are even though you are hurt
There is no denying that Tigerlily’s heart bumped anxiously in her chest when Björn mentioned the place of his birth. Just as the name had affected her earlier in the Commons, so to, it affected her now, though she tried to hide this from him. A small, sharp intake of breath, a stillness settled upon her, for a brief moment, Tigerlily turned away from the one who has come to mean everything to her, because she did not wish him to see any of her shame or fear, nor look into the eyes of the beast that she sometimes feels she may become.
At the gentle bump, Björn successfully stirred Tigerlily from her dark thoughts and drew her back to him. The sun was rising steadily, and the mare found reassurance in the stallion’s presence beside her. Despite everything; the season, and the physical contact that she has initiated numerous times now, each touch charged with emotion and edged with desire, Björn has displayed no outward indications of wanting more than Tigerlily was willing to give. Rather, he seemed to respect her in a way few others had, reciprocating her need for physical comfort without forcing himself upon her, and this mattered a great deal to the buckskin and white mare.
Taking a moment to steady herself, Tigerlily brightened again, and trailed her muzzle through the air, gesturing to the dense jungle that stood like a living wall before them, and beyond the jungle’s edge, the great rocky outcrops that gave this land its name.
“Can you show me?” Tigerlily asked of the Icelandic stallion, eager to explore.
“I’ve never been anywhere like this before,” she went on to explain.
“Have you lived here long?” In her haste to push all thought of the Inlet out of her mind, Tigerlily found questions about this new, unknown place, tumbling out of her mouth like a stream of water.
A sudden thought occurred to the mare, and she turned back to Björn, a troubled expression painted across her pale face.
“I hope you haven’t been lonely here,” she said quietly, her blue eyes searching his face for the truth. Though they’d just met hours before, Tigerlily knew well the despair that deep loneliness brought with it, and would not wish such a thing upon anyone, least of all the stallion standing before her now. She’d seen no signs of other equines, however, and wasn’t able to catch any scents for the breeze coming off the sea behind them.
T I G E R L I L Y
you are caught in a wire and soon it will burst.