Iris’s heart was still fractured from grief and regret, but she would no longer allow the weight of its burdens to crush her.

One morning—watching the golden of the eye lift slowly above the snow-capped peaks of the mountains—it occurred to the spotted mare that she had spent too much of her life in uncertainty. Since she’d left the Prairie in pursuit of her dam, the countless landscapes she’d visited had been as transitory as the seasons themselves. Without anywhere to call home, Iris had leaned heavily on the bonds that she shared with her family—even those who were not always with her. Because regardless of the ever-changing terrain her hooves tread, Gnome’s daughter knew that there was one thing in her life that could never be taken from her: the deep affection that she shared with her parents and sister. And even now—two years after her return to the islands where she’d been born—Iris still knew that much to be true.

She might have lost those dearest to her, but she could always claim their love.

For a full season following the evidence of their separated paths—for the remainder of the cold winter, and into the warmth of spring—Iris had felt...empty. It was only recently that she’d begun to pick the frayed threads of her life back up one by one, attempting to find new places where they might be pieced together. And in the end, she decided it came down to purpose. Without one, she could only keep drifting—could only keep taking her existence from one regret-filled day and into the next. But should she aspire to truly live, it was up to her to find a way forward. And as much as she hoped that path might include Adelheid at her side, Iris knew that she could not lean on the Vulcan in this. Only she could decide what the future might hold for her.

In the end—though she had entertained the thought of change to escape the memories that still haunted her—Iris chose to remain in the Peak. It was as much a practical decision as a romantic one; after everything that she’d endured, the blanketed creature held little trust within her for the masculine gender, and less capacity for love. Only amongst the free-spirited women of the Peak could Iris embrace everything that she was: her flaws and her strengths, her fears and her firm resolve. But if the mountains were to truly become her home—and the sisterhood her new family—then she could not sit idly any longer. Determined to make a true Vulcan of herself, Iris resolved to do her part in protecting the sanctity of their land.

The first test of her resolve did not come for days after this decision, however. Though she patrolled the rugged terrain with a watchful eye, Iris could feel no less a nomad and an outsider for these uneventful wanderings. It was only towards the end of spring—when the last pockets of snow had melted, and the wildflowers were beginning to wilt beneath the sun’s merciless gaze—that the mahogany mare heard the call of her purpose. It came in the form of a masculine voice borne by the wind, beckoning the drooping tips of her ears forward with a quiver of—excitement? Unease? Iris wasn’t certain, but she marched forward regardless, the thunder of her hooves synchronizing with the steady double-beat of her heart.

It was only minutes later that she emerged from the forest and onto the desolate, rocky shore not far from where she’d once set out in search of Eve. The memory twisted briefly within the walls of her chest, but the dark woman pushed it away, striving to focus on nothing save the figure of the blue-and-white stallion who waited for her just beyond the waves’ grasp. Reminding herself to keep her head high and her body prepared, Iris headed for him with self-conscious strides. “Hello,” Iris greeted him neutrally when she drew near, the chocolate of her eyes warm with curiosity. “What brings you to the Peak?”

Though not the same sour suspicion that she suspected the Vulcan’s Codebreaker might meet this young stallion with, Iris saw no reason—yet—to drive him back into the sea.