and from the dark into the light
i saw a stone burst into lifeand in the corner of your eye i saw a dream that never died
(Set towards the end of Autumn, a day or two after the Vulcans returned from the War on Luthien)
A shadow had fallen over them all, and no matter how the sun shone, Kolfinna felt cold always, aching with the loss they all suffered. More than for herself, the grey mare’s heart broke for Wasp – one who’d become a fast friend in Kolfinna’s eyes, and certainly a strong soul, worth following. But even the most stoic of individuals can only be pushed so far before they broke. The lone wanderer of the Peak had witnessed it with her own eyes; Wasp falling to pieces beside the body of her mother.
Kolfinna felt her chest and throat tighten at the vivid and agonising memory. It had been all she could do to watch Wasp’s back, and she’d defended the bay mare with a ferocity she hadn’t known herself capable of. Any stranger who’d encroached upon Wasp’s circle of grief was met by the snapping teeth and lashing hooves of a gentle soul driven to savagery by grief and vengeance.
So much had happened since then. The brindled grey couldn’t recall the return journey, no matter how many hours she spent meandering the foothills of the Peak trawling through her recollections of the war. All the anger and bloodlust she’d seen there, the callousness of it all… The dead and dying. And mares who willingly blinded themselves to the nature of the stallions they followed, betraying themselves in a way they could never comprehend… It was all too much for the peaceable mare. The mental trauma of it all, as well as her wounded shoulder, these things made her careless and vulnerable.
And she had strayed from her sisters. The hour was late when Kolfinna drew herself from the depths of her internal ponderings, and she found herself deep in the true shadow cast by the mountain that was and always would be her home. With apprehension prickling at her skin, she turned back, favouring her injured limb, eager to be back amongst her sisters, for she did not want to give them cause for worry, even as she remained deeply troubled over Wasp, and how she was faring in the wake of such a loss. A soft sound and a scent foreign to her carried on the wind had Kolfinna turning. A stranger hovered nearby, in a most unsettling way.
“If you have business here, it is not with me,” she called, not slowing, but suddenly taking great care to keep her pace even, steady as she tried to mask her physical weakness. There was no way of knowing how long he’d been watching. “My sisters are not far,” came the pointed warning, but it wavered as it left her lips. Kolfinna felt her breathing hitch in her throat, and struggled to keep her head. Her instincts were telling her to run, but it was impossible to discern if her nerves were still frayed from the conflict on Luthien, or if this stranger was truly a threat to her.
k o l finna;