It took a few days, but eventually, the cold bite of early spring got to Kore. She had lingered by the beach nearest to where she’d washed ashore, lingering along the edges of the trees and spending her days watching the tender blooms of spring make their arrival. The world here seemed to awaken much more slowly than back at home - the hardy desert blooms of her birthplace would sometimes rise from the loam and bloom in the span of hours, and yet these new buds took
days, no matter how much she encouraged them. The grass, even, seemed to be taking its sweet time, and she was having difficulty locating anything besides young and tender growth. She had been raised never to take more than she needed, and only to take what was already on its way out, saving as much of the new as possible to allow it to flourish… but after searching fruitlessly, Kore was beginning to feel like she had no further options. The days were not much hotter than the frigid nights, and she and Ember had parted ways, leaving her alone to weather the cold. Feeling the edge of winter’s teeth, the dark mare decided to move inland and south. Perhaps she would find the end of this large oasis there.
It warmed a bit as she walked, and the forest thinned some, leading out to a sea of endless rolling hills. Kore crested the top of a large slope at a trot, whitecapped tail held high like a banner, and swept her dark eyes across the landscape, looking for a point - any point - where the green gave way to soft, ever-shifting gold. When she found nothing, her hopeful expression darkened into a scowl, and she tossed her head in frustration. Where was the end of all this stuff? Did it ever end? Had she actually died whilst swept out to sea and been sent to the unending fields of Elysium?
Would she ever get any answers?
Frustrated, the mare broke her gaze from the horizon, staring at the turf beneath her hooves. After spending a few moments dwelling in the injustice of it all, she noticed the height of the grass beneath her. The warmer weather here had given it just the slightest more momentum than what she’d seen by the waterfall, and judging by the emerald carpet extending in all directions as far as she could see, surely not all of it was brand new. Bending down, she indulged herself in a few mouthfuls. Better, now, to warm her mahogany coat in the warmth of the midday sun and regain some energy. There would be time to explore the rest of this strange, new place. It wasn’t like Kore had anywhere else to be.