Papa would worry, but Torvi did not care right now. He always worried. Perhaps that was where mother got it from. Always Tuari seemed to be looking behind them and hurrying her along from one place to another. Her time in the Ridge with Requiem was the first time she found herself a sense of freedom.

The Ridge was full of foals, most of them, younger than herself and content to play in the watchful gaze of their families but Torvi could not bring herself to stay and play with them long. Though she did her best to hide it from everyone, she ached for her mother. Each time she saw a mother staring wistfully at her foal, or a father gently chiding a particularly rambunctious foal, she ached to feel the warmth of mother’s touch. Though Tuari was never the affectionate mother like those that tended to the foals in the Ridge, she was still hers. Requiem tried, he was gentle and kind to her but he was not her mother.

Torvi still did not quite understand why mother had to go away, but she held onto the hope that it would not be long before once more she felt the security that came with Tuari’s warm scent. But as the days pass, the longing for her mother caused the young cream filly to draw farther and farther from the her grandsire and the rest of the Ridge herd and towards the borders of the dense jungle island. For a time, she found herself wandering along the shoreline, pausing here and there to look at a particularly pretty shell or follow a large crab as it skuttled sideways towards the surf. It was some time before she even realized that she had traveled far from the large rocky cliffs that the Ridge herd had been so named. A small part of her whispered that she should go back the way she had come, whispered that leaders were not always kind to wandering foals but her heart did not care. She wanted to be reckless. Maybe she would even find mother. That would show her that she did not need to leave her daughter behind to be babysat by her grandsire. But where to look?

Pale silver blue eyes blink against the bright sunshine as Torvi glances further up the beach. In the distance, she can just make out the forms of mingling horses and excitement thrums through her veins. Maybe mother was there.

With an excited toss of her head, the filly of silver cream kicked up her heels and trotted towards the small group. It was not until she got closer did she realize that the one light colored horse that could have been her mother from a distance was in fact a mere gray mare that showed no acknowledgement to her when Torvi called her greeting. ”Nope. Not mum.” Torvi murmured to herself watching as the mare plodded away into the sheltered shade of the trees. She was all but fixing to turn around and return to her grandsire when the squeals of discord caught her attention. For a moment, Torvi can think of nothing else as she watches a particularly rambunctious red colt charging towards a mare that drew further away from the group. With ears pinned and teeth flashing, he nipped at her heels until she squealed herself in annoyance.

”Hey!” she shouted, her own ears falling back amid the growing curls of her creamy white mane. Azul eyes narrow as she stalks towards him with her pink muzzle outstretched in what she hoped would be a menacing display. Angrily she stomps her foot at him as she stops a few feet from him. ”That is mean. She did not like that. Why would you be mean to her like that? What did she do to you?” she asks, her high pitched tones dropping an octave with anger. Long tail lashes against her flanks as she stares at him expectantly, waiting for an answer. Once more the voice whispers in her mind that she should leave, that she should not intrude for she was a stranger here but she simply could not stand idly by and watch.