It had been a few days since her arrival in the Desert, and the sun was heating up. Luckily, Cerosi’s thick winter coat had blown out almost entirely, leaving only a few ragged tufts hanging from her flanks. She was still very warm, but did not suffer as badly as she had her first day. She was adjusting, and she found that she enjoyed the desert despite the heat.

She had explored a little bit, but mostly the gunmetal mare stuck to the oasis. It was cooler by the water, and she enjoyed the taste of the desert grass more so than the grass on more temperate lands. She had left Cain and Nasa to their own devices for the time being, and though she enjoyed their company, Cerosi also valued time by herself. It was the greatest gift that had come with her freedom from the tribe. She had never had privacy in her old home. She had been constantly monitored and controlled, every minute of every day. Solitude was novel to her, and just as novel as a kind stallion, and she relished it for the first time in her life.

Still, she got vaguely lonely sometimes. It was not the loneliness she had felt in the tribe, where you craved the company of someone that you did not know instead of the company of those constantly around you. This was a loneliness for someone specific, in a way. While she healed in her isolation, she also wanted to meet Cain’s family and heal in a different way, but she was not sure she was ready yet. So she lingered on the outskirts, eating desert grass and observing from afar whenever she caught sight of the other inhabitants of the Desert.

Part of her hoped someone would approach her, so she wouldn’t have to take that first step by herself. She would have liked to seek out Cain again, but the last time she had seen him he appeared to be digging a grave, so she kept a respectful distance. She did not know how to help; being around others while they handled their grief was nothing she had ever done before, at least not without having that grief taken out on her. Cerosi was somewhat emotionally underdeveloped, and did not want to make that her new companion’s problem, in addition to her fear that the stallion would act out towards her in his grief. She wanted to be there for him, but she did not understand how.

Cautiously, the gunmetal mare wandered the Desert, not particularly looking to run into someone but not opposed to the possibility.

”Dialogue”

• CEROSI •