a new world hangs outside the window
beautiful and strange
it must be I've fallen awake
I must be

Ever since Wasp returned to the Peak with Macabre, Cherish and the foals, life had been different. That lowly, melancholy period of seclusion was finally behind her. The dark mare felt united as an important part of the growing Peak herd and the challenge presented in front of them. Their very existence was on the line, thanks to Cullen and his Lagoon cronies. He came time and time again, stealing away their sisters and voicing his support for the war meant to squash all mare-led powers among the islands. Every image Wasp harbored in her head of Cullen - usually the sly smirk he was so prone to giving her just before they locked legs in battle, made her blood boil. But it was that anger that she harnessed and repurposed as Bozena had taught her to do - that fueled her to keep working and to keep guard, even on her most exhaustive days.

Wasp was feeling light and giddy lately. Her chest was puffed full of hope after Bozena returned to them, having fought her way out of the Lagoon. and she'd managed to defeat Cullen in battle yet again, keeping the bachelor stallion Ivar well within the Peak's clutches. It felt like after months of sputtering and loss, the Peak was taking significant strides forward in their march for freedom and to end this oppression. Wasp's quickly beating heart kept her up at night when she thought too hard about it - about everything that was at stake, about everything she loved so much about being here, and playing a role in this.

The dark mare was longing against a low boulder, enjoying the warmth it absorbed from the sun at high day. She was technically on guard, meant to be watching the meadow down below and the herd that grazed with a few newborn foals some distance away. But their rocky homeland had been quiet lately, at least since she defeated Cullen.

So when a lone stallion appeared - merely a speck at this distance - on the horizon, he took her by surprise. Her amber eyes blinked quickly in rapid succession as she tried to sharpen her view. Her nostrils flared, taking in the brisk air, and barely catching any nodes of his musk from this far away. She watched for a few minutes more as he slinked through the tall grasses and spring flowers at a casual, slow pace. Everything about his demeanor did not reveal any kind of threat - but he was a stallion trespassing in the Peak, after all. Any activity these days was a threat until proven otherwise.

Her wide, flat hooves kicked into action as she ambled down the boulder path until she reached flat, moist earth. She whinnied to him and the herd, alerting them all of her approach. Her stocky legs pounded the earth as she cantered swiftly toward him, sliding to a stop just a few feet away. She snorted once and sucked in the air, hard and fast, catching the muck of the Lagoon on him now in this closer range. "What do you want?" She barked, her head held high over her withers as she sized him up.

W A S P