there is still nothing in his demeanor that seems threatening..nothing to indicate his questions are anything other than a friendly inquisition. while she hadn’t wished to divulge her grandfathers name or where she was from directly, it was unsurprising that bjorn had made the leap. she nods, silently affirming his guess. her eyes, soft and deep brown, follow his own over the horizon. they remain there as she thinks of her mother…the pale mare from whom she had inherited so much from. the name falls softly from her lips, petal.

she wonders where she would have gone… her father, jabari, had been sent to the lagoon. the hurt that she had seen written on her mothers face after ordeal with the mare that had been stolen from the inlet was clear… it hadn’t seemed like petal would have sought him out and especially not in the lagoon… from what little she knew of the world she knew it was no place for a mare to wander..especially not one like her mother. she had no other family here…having come from far away… no other friends that she knew of except one… she had seen vita nova from a distance once and her mother had pointed her out as a friend but they hadn’t seemed particularly close… but then again her mother didn’t seem close to anyone except the very earth itself. she wasn’t even sure where vita nova lived though she faintly remembers something about a stallion named warsaw… she remembers her mother mentioning him in passing as someone she had been glad to avoid… a tyrant she had said…

she has gotten lost in thought but is finally pulled back to the present when he speaks again, kindly offering for her to stay. she had planned to anyway, for a short time at least. every time she let her mind wander to the darkness of the sea she felt panic rise up in her heart. she is considerate of his offer and nods politely. a few seconds pass before she somewhat humorously realizes that he will probably think she has some sort of handicap besides the slight quirk of her muzzle… often her quietness did lead some to believe she wasn’t quite there mentally. i would stay and rest and consider my next steps. notifying shamwari won’t be necessary… we weren’t…close. she doesn’t have any desire to begin telling him how complicated their family was… how their mother had chosen shamwari’s son over him… and the rift that it had resulted in. she doesn’t want to anyone to worry but she also knows it might be dangerous for her sister to know where she was… the small painted twin of hers was too nosy for her own good. she thought this lovingly of course… she wanted daphne to stay where she was. safe and sound in the prairie.