+++

Wasp didn’t seem to wish ill of Nekharat, nor was she content with her leaving the conversation so soon after her explanation. The red mare turned back around to face her again, her ears pricked forward and listening to her assertions and insistence that their conversation was far from over.

“It’s not that,” Nekharat answered with respect to her candid remark on her words not being what she wanted to hear. “It was Solomon,” she paused, her voice downtrodden, remembering the less than stellar opinion the stallion had of the Peak mares, and particularly of Wasp.

“I went to the Cove to see if a mare called Shaydowfax was still living there—she and I had an altercation when I first arrived on these islands and I simply wanted to settle it,” she added, if only to give Wasp some confidence that she hadn’t paid the stallion a visit to stir up any trouble, but only to settle a personal score. “But instead I ran into Solomon, who didn’t seem to have a very high opinion of the Peak mares.”

Nekharat paused again, hoping that she hadn’t somehow done something to upset Wasp by mentioning this, but at the same time, she had nothing to hide from the Prime Minister either. “What you said about stallions feeling as though they own mares makes sense, though it’s strange how they act this way but won’t actually see the situation for what it is. I suppose because it benefits them.”

A small bubble of annoyance at this reality formed in the pit of her stomach again. “And it’s not only stallions,” the red mare continued, the fire returning to her voice once more. “That mare Shaydowfax, she felt mares should be treated like property too, which is just somehow even more backwards to me, and that’s what drove me here to the Peak in the first place.”

Nekharat hoped that her sincerity would resonate with Wasp. She truly hated feeling helpless, and she hoped that being part of the Peak might ensure she’d be in the company of others who felt like this too, and maybe together they could work to make a difference. “It’s just wrong… and I want it to make it right, if such a thing is even possible.”

NEKHARAT