there is no knowledge of before, no faces echoing in her mind begging her to remember, no distant landscapes that form in the pictures behind her eyes bidding her to miss them as she would a home. there is only here, now, the wide swathe of water whispering at her hooves and the earth firm at her back. there is fear and wonder, and emptiness that she cannot name. snegurochka trembles, feeling suddenly overwhelmed by the world, despite its beauty. her eyes close, welcoming a barren darkness, but she is pulled back out by the sound of hooves in the sand, a friendly call. her delicate head tips curiously toward the figure, nearly black eyes flashing open as the strangers voice greets her. white ears tip forward and the shimmering filly opens her mouth to speak but cannot untangle the words that swim in her mind. had she been looking for something? she doesn’t have time to answer before another figure approaches, black as midnight. she does not wish to snub the first of the two, extending her pale nose to offer a soft puff of air at the painted mare and then toward the grey-black muzzle of the second. she considers both of their words carefully, wondering what exactly was expected. lost? but what had she lost? her voice is soft, barely more than a whisper, but she finally speaks. ”i don’t know what this place is. i am snegurochka. i…. i am not sure where the path is.” the first had asked if she sought a home, and the second, if she was lost… both seemed possible, though the young mare wasn’t certain of either. for now it seemed easier not to answer either completely because the words in her head tangled and muddled as if she hadn’t used them in a century. though everything else in her mind seemed blank, there was a dark corner at least that still had the echo of destiny, which made her feel safe at least in admitting that perhaps there was somewhere she should be, rather than here. |