Falls

The seasons changed again, that familiar bite returning to the wind as it whipped relentlessly across the softly rolling hills of the Meadow. The once verdant grasses turned brown, the dry stalks crunching under-hoof as he walked to the southernmost point of the neutral territory where everything shifted to sand and sea. A habit that had formed of late, going as far south as was possible here to stare across that ocean towards the distant speck of an island he had not had the mettle to return to in so many months. Still he lingered, waiting and watching with a mixture of disgrace and flickering hope of seeing her once more. That memory of the frigid night they had spent together, sheltering in each other and the warmth of their bodies still sent a slight thrill through him. It was that moment that had driven him to make more of himself, to be worthy of the time and attention of such a singularly unique woman. He would not be a burden to her, for surely it would be a crime to weigh down a woman who was born to have wings.

However, in his haste to don his own wings like Icarus he had flown too close to the sun and burned up upon the impact. The first thing he had tasked himself with was finding a place for them, a place they could call their own and she could be free to do whatever she wished. Perhaps it was hubris that led him to take claim of the first place that he had discovered, entirely deserted he had not even had to work for it, but when it came to keeping those Hills he had been found wanting. Only in retrospect had he realize how inadequate that place would have been for her, those familiar Dunes where she had been nearly captive even if by her own design just over the horizon forever haunting her.

And besides, she deserved somewhere vibrant, teeming with life and full of flowers that she could enjoy throughout the seasons. Yet after he had recovered from his own self-imposed punishment for failing he had not been able to find her again, cursing the sheer size of the lands not to mention the turbulent waters that separated them all as well. Every so often he would catch hint of her delicate perfume, faint as it might be, and it would fill him with hope once more even though she was no where to be found. She was still here, somewhere, and that singular fact was all that mattered to the ebony stallion.

They would find each other again, of that he was sure, for while he doubted many things, he was certain the Fates had more in store for the two of them than had already transpired. And so he would wait, however long it took and even if he turned to stone looking out over the endlessly crashing waves. She was worth every moment spent waiting and more.