After her encounter with the chestnut stallion in the Prairie, Lilika was feeling a little braver - and more alive than she had since the days that her family had been whole. Having ascertained that she had no further purpose on the island of Luthien, Lily decided that she would seek out her daughter and offer what assistance she could in locating someone who might have heard of Gnome. With a twinge of sorrow and regret for the home she'd once known, the blue roan turned and strode into the waves. Once underway, she turned her lean body south and swam towards the distant point of land that marked the Crossing.

Lilika emerged on the pebbled shore of a peninsula that was part of neither the Falls nor the Meadow, but rather a sort of no man's land between. For a moment she stood in debate of which place Iris would have chosen to visit, while a few cold flakes of snow drifted down to kiss her white-dusted coat. Then - with the faint curve of a smile tugging her dark lips upward - she continued along her original southerly course. Of course her eldest daughter would head to the meadow with its open landscape and carpet of grass - the closest setting to the Prairie she'd grown up in that could be found on this island.

The old mare's instincts were accurate - she caught the scent of Iris occasionally as she wandered beside the icy ribbon of a stream that had frozen over. Unfortunately for her, by the time she arrived in the open span of grass, Iris and her sibling Eve had retired to a more private setting to talk through the events that had filled the years they'd spent apart. For close to an hour, Lily circled and scented the air to no avail. Then - deciding that Iris must have moved on - she continued south, following the inward curve of land that formed a large bay, and crossing (unbeknownst to her) into the boundaries of the Lagoon.

It was some time before the moriesian realized her mistake - the eastern coast of the Lagoon was an area less frequented by the bachelors who called it their home. But eventually she stumbled across the spoke of a trail worn by their patrols, and marked by the scents of the handful of stallions who had frequented it. The shock of it was enough to provide an opening for the fear that Lily had hoped to leave behind in the Prairie to reassert itself. Before she had time to consider her options, the mare's dark legs had begun to move of their own accord, carrying her quickly along the path. Hoofsteps - whether real or conjured by terror - sped the mare's strides until she was tearing through the trees, once jumping the twisted root of a tree that rose suddenly in her path. Lathered and heaving, Lilika finally emerged on the thin, silty strip of shoreline and threw herself into the sea without a backward glance.

By the time the rapid thrumming of her heart had slowed to its normal pace, the blue roan had sighted the form of another island in the distance. Without any clue as to which direction she'd even been swimming in, Lilika couldn't pair a name with the place - but swam eagerly for its coast regardless. It was only when she'd gotten near enough to observe the bone-white sands of its beach that two names came forth from the tangled chaos of her thoughts. The island was Atlantis, and this particular corner of it was known as Paradise.

Many would agree that it was an apt name, but not Lily. If she were not weary down to her very bones, the silvery mare would have sooner turned around and headed back into the lion's maw that was the Lagoon. She carried no fond memories of her brief time spent on Atlantis, and felt no relief to be standing safe on its shore. Instead - her posture stiff and her chocolate eyes wary - Lilika edged just far enough inland to avoid the waves' grasping fingers, so that she might give the shadows of the jungle a wide berth.

As soon as she was rested, she would gladly leave this sweltering hell behind her. Until then, she would seek the sanctuary of her dreams - and hope that he did not pay her a visit there, as he had so long ago in the darkness of night on Atlantis's spine.

mare .. 13 years .. blue roan .. moriesian .. 16 hands