The girl stirs from her slumber, her body hot all the way through with the intensity of the sunshine on her mottled coat. She does not look for her dam first as some children might, having never learned to associate the speckled grey mare with the comfort of a mother. She is the source of food, and the one who chases away the monsters in the night, but she does not offer cuddles or snuggles or affection. They exist as familiar strangers to one another, but the girl doesn't mind.
She didn't know there could be anything else.
Her bright gaze traces the edges of the leafed canopy so high above with the detachment of just waking, her body still pleasantly heavy with the lingering effects of her slumber. Even the soft drone of voices nearby is not enough to draw her attention, not truly. At least, not until she heard her mother's soft gasp of surprise.
The fawn-colored filly craned her neck so that she could look for the answer, for the danger, and instead found only more questions to be asked. A massive dark brown horse stood wrapped against her mother, which was confusing enough, but she didn't appear to be running away either. Fascinated, the filly rolled onto her chest to peer more directly at them, her gaze eagerly flicking between them.
Clearly, he wasn't a threat. If he was, her mother would have made that weird fear sound and would have come running to chase her into the forest. Of course, that didn't answer what he was, if not a threat. Still grounded, the girl stretched toward them with her tiny nostrils flaring, as if by scent alone she would figure out this mystery.
Sonorae could not say whether or not she had experienced love like this before. She certainly couldn't remember if she had, but she liked to think that she had not. Not because she hoped that her life before was miserable, but because the thought of forgetting something like this seemed abhorrent to her.
His soft assurances wrap her in warmth, and while she is not quite ready to let go of the self-recrimination that saturates her heart, she relishes in the relief that he offers so freely. If Rae had known what fate awaited her on the shores of the Crossing that day, she never would have left Paradise. But the fact remained that she had done just that. Boldly and foolishly, she had abandoned the quiet shelter of Paradise and braved the cruel outside world. She may not have asked the unnamed stallion to abuse her so, but she had invited the option of such chaos with her carelessness. Regardless of how often Rougaru bathed her in forgiveness, she was not sure she could ever forgive herself for what had happened.
Hearing her chosen name on his lips made her heart beat furiously in her chest, thrumming against her ribs so hard she felt as if it were reverberating across her entire body. Even in that single syllable - Rae - she could hear his affection for her, and felt as if that alone would be enough to make up for the pain of the past year. If she could just keep hold of this feeling, she was certain that she could float along for the rest of her life without a single doubt or fear. The smile that had appeared before widened further and she leans into the gentle breath he blows against her cheek.
Rae's head drops contently just enough so that she can press her lips to the proud curve of his shoulder before leaning her weight against him, her heart floating in the warmth of his love. She is not brave enough to say it aloud, not yet, but her lips form three small words and press them like a promise to his skin. I love you, she says to no one but herself, willing his heart to hear what she cannot say aloud. As she pulls away - a part of her crying out against such distance - her gaze rises to the young filly that stares avidly at them, her bright gaze intense with curiosity. Rae's lips press together in an uncertain line, and her doubts flicker back to life in her chest all over again.
It struck her suddenly, that they might not be lying to her. That she may truly not be as terrible of a mother as she believed that she was. Perhaps her fears were all her own, and tied to what had happened, rather than to the child itself.
Maybe if it was Rougaru's child, it would be different.
She stares for a moment longer, lost in the possibilities that this represented before turning back to the chocolate stallion again. Gently, she stretched forward to touch her muzzle to him again, still hungry for the warmth of his touch. "What if you name this one," her voice grows quieter with the rising tide of her shyness, but she pushes past. Her voice trembles with the weight of what she offers, and yet she can't deny that it feels right to give this to him. This filly should have been his, and it was only right that the next one would be… when she was ready for it. "And I'll name the next one?"
The filly returns her mother's stare silently, her small ears pointed eagerly forward. This is perhaps the first time that the girl has ever seen her mother around someone that the speckled mare didn't fear. There was no tension in her posture, only a warmth that the filly didn't know how to describe. As her mother turns back to the stallion, she rises onto her spindly limbs and shakes off the detritus of the jungle floor. Silently, as if she were half golden panther, she stalks forward towards them, her muzzle pointed firmly toward the large chocolate-colored stallion. She didn't know who he was, but he was making her dam act very strangely, and she wanted answers.
