Gnome huffed a half-laugh in response to Kendry’s words. He remembered when this stallion was a newborn, downy and gangly. Now here was the same boy, giving pretty good advice. It was just further proof to the dun that age doesn’t mean much in terms of wisdom. He flinched slightly as a drop of rain fell directly into his right ear, and then he shook his head. Meeting Kendry’s blue gaze once again, he admitted, ”It’s not just that…what if she is there?” He chuckled at the thought. ”I dread her anger just as much as I dread her absence.” He sighed, resolution settling into his heart. ”You’re right, though; no way to get closure without actually going.”

The perlino then asked about Tinuvel, and his woman. He shifted his hind end so his weight was on his right leg, and started with the easier of the two subjects. ”Tinuvel is beautiful and rugged. I didn’t explore the whole island – I was only in the Inlet – but it is mostly tundra and trees. You’d fit in well there,” he added with a small smile. ”I’d have liked it more if I’d had time to accustom myself to a harsher winter.” He paused, thinking about how exactly to word his next phrase. ”There seemed to be a lot of turmoil there amongst the leaders. The mare who claimed me – Xiomara – had recently won the Inlet in a challenge, and it seemed that the other two leaders I didn’t see were fairly new, or newly returned.”

His thoughts then turned to Lilika, his lost love. Looking back now, he knew he loved her, but was it naïve love? It must have been, for her to disappear without a trace, leaving one daughter but taking the other. Or, had something happened to them? Either way, he needed to find out. ”We met when we were young, and she was in captivity. Eventually she broke free, found my herd, and then we made our life here.” He smiled at the bittersweet memory. ”My favorite part about her was that fierce determination; she came to find me, so I had to try to find her.”

He cocked his hips the other way, relieving the tension in his right leg that had developed during his tale. ”And what about you? What have you been up to since I saw you last, aside from searching for Marlena?”

Gnome