As she waited, it occurred to the dark mare that she should have sought guidance from her more seasoned sisters before venturing as far as greeting a stallion who wandered into their home. But no amount of mentoring could have prepared her for this.

From various rants she’d heard their Codebreaker engage in over the island’s male population, Iris had gathered that few of their gender came to the Peak with a peaceful purpose. She therefore anticipated claims over ownership of a particular mare that had sought refuge with the Vulcans—or perhaps even a heated request from one of the Lagoon’s bachelors that his remaining captive brothers be freed. Instead, the blue-and-white stallion began by asking whether she was Iris or Eve. Feeling the frenetic beat of her heart pulsing in her ears, Iris shook her head not in denial, but in disbelief. She could only guess that he had come by her name from one of the few beyond this mountain who knew of her—but if this stallion had spoken to Eve or Solomon, then he would know who she was without asking.

Still, it was entirely possible that the Cove’s king had sent this creature to gain her trust and lower her guard. Suspicion hardened the soft planes of Iris’s face, but she fought the impulse to flatten her ears and continued to listen in skeptical silence. And whether brave or unaware of his companion’s internal battle, the young tobiano plunged determinedly onward, sharing that he had been sent to search for two sisters. Had Solomon truly decided to stoop so low as to reopen the still-healing wound of Eve’s loss? A number of words—most of them unkind—flew to the tip of Iris’s tongue and sought to hurl themselves at this cruel messenger... and then sat there unuttered as shock and grief paralyzed every part of her. The Prairie. Lilika.

Memories of home cascaded through her thoughts in an instant, and she almost fled into the sea to chase them. Almost.

“I am Iris,” The blanketed woman heard herself confirming, feeling strangely distant as the words fell carelessly from her numb lips. “And Lily—I mean, Lilika, she’s my mom. But...” Her head began to shake to-and-fro again as denial once again enfolded her. She couldn’t go back; she couldn’t. Not without Eve. Not as the one responsible for shattering their family. “I can’t go back. It’s… complicated.” Again, it felt as if someone else were speaking these words. Someone who had borrowed her voice, but who existed in a strange state of calm that was not at all like the turmoil swirling around within her.

She crashed back to herself in a cold wash of shame and the bitter sting of regret. Both threatened to undo her, and Iris could not bear to shed anymore tears. So she sought instead to push all of this away—to deny the hopeful appeal in the young stallion’s eyes with a cold indifference that cost her heavily to maintain.“I’m glad to hear about my mother, though, and I hope she is doing well. Thahnk you for coming.” Iris finished with a note of grim finality, turning to take the first step that would carry her away.