Like her beloved, Lilika also reflected on the years they had spent apart - though her thoughts carried the weight of regret that his lacked. It was difficult for her to understand in this moment how fear had ever overpowered her love for the stallion, how she had ever allowed anything to keep them apart. Feeling the intense joy and devotion she did now, the blue roan would have fought with every ounce of strength against anyone who tried to seperate them - and even died in the attempt, if that was what it had come to.

Of course, it was easy to forget that a different sort of love had motivated her then - that of a mother seeking to protect her children in the only way that she could. Lily had never been a fighter, had never been brave - beyond the courage that Gnome had always lent her. In his absence, that courage had crumbled and left her as scared and vulnerable as the filly who'd first emerged from her familiar pen into the open and terrifying world. A small part of her had even doubted whether the blanketed stallion would return, feared that he was as lost to her as the life of comfort and crushing loneliness that she'd known before they had met. And it was this doubt that troubled her - more than the terror that had held her captive.

He had vowed when they'd reunited that he would never leave her again. And in the end, it was she who had broken that vow. How could he feel anything but enmity for her, the one who had torn their family apart? "Gnome-" she began after he'd spoken his part, intending to confess and apologize for her lack of conviction. To beg him if that was what it took to bring their family back together. But as he buried his face in the dark curtain of her mane, she could not continue. It was clear that, for now, Gnome was choosing to exist only in the present moment. Perhaps it would be best for her to do the same - to grant him the joy of this reunion and break his heart another day.

"I can't believe it's you. But it is. I thought of you and Eve every waking moment, and dreamed of you when I slept." It was good to hear her younger daughter's name again, to speak it without fear of the pain it might cause Iris. The sisters had been inseperable from the moment of Eve's birth, and it had been especially hard on Iris to adapt to life without her sibling. "I brought Iris home as well - or rather, she brought me," the blue roan hastened to reassure her mate, a smile warming her eyes as she corrected herself. It was hard not to feel pride in her indomitable daughter. "We parted ways on Luthien to search for you. I-"

It was becoming harder to focus on only the positive, and put aside the dark emotions that plagued her. Turning her gaze toward the jungle with an involuntary shudder and then casting it down the more comforting scenery of the shore, the mare twisted her head to tug playfully on one of the stallion's ears. "Is this your home now, then? A stark change from the open landscape and unassuming beauty of the Prairie, but I could get used to it. I know how dearly your creaky old joints always hated the cold."

A throaty laugh, and an affectionate bump of her muzzle against his skin. They were nearly the same age, in truth, but Lilika's early captivity had caused her to mind to mature less quickly than the stallion's. She could still remember laying her ears back at the gangly colt who'd been unable to join her in the pan and haughtily telling him that he was too old to play with her anyway. The memory warmed the silvery mare more than the Atlantean sun, and she left her brown eyes drift closed in bliss.

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