His accusing eyes burn into her skin. His small red ears bend backwards as green gaze stares at her without emotion. Her own pale ears disappear again beneath the silken tendrils of her mane as he reiterates that his crash into her shoulder was her fault. She had hoped that her damp eyes and downtrodden expression might bring out some sense of humanity in him. However the red colt seemed to feel no emotion at the proud but pathetic display she tried to express. Anger once more flashes in her eyes at his comment as her sullen demeanor gives way and is once more replaced with the same mask of indifference that he wears so proudly. A sneer slides across her lips as she snorts derisively, ”Good to see you know more words.” she remarks, her tones dry as she draws her blue gaze towards the ocean just beyond the boy. White capped waves tug at the shore, each once inching closer and closer to where they stood as though the very oceans beckoned her to them. Wind tugged the ends of her alabaster mane through their invisible fingers, whispering its soft voice into her ears. It was beautiful here, and were the situation different, perhaps she would have found a desire to explore them further. Meet the strange herd of beautiful horses that the barbaric colt came from. If he were not quite so barbaric….

No. She gives her proud head a shake, the ghostly image of mother once more dancing in her forethoughts. Despite Torvi’s attempt to keep the woman alive, her memory was fading and with it, the details of her mother’s face. She tries, but she cannot remember her as clearly as she had the day she left her alone in the Ridge with grandfather. She had cursed her mother that morning, spit hateful words at her retreating form in pure anger and resentment. She wanted to stay with her, to go with her on the adventures she had in plan. Tuari would not. It was for her own safety she had murmured, but Torvi did not see how she was in any safer hands now than she would have been if Tuari had just let her stay.

The boy scowls and gives his proud head a shake. Silver blue eyes shift back to his handsome red features as he reiterated her understanding. ‘No Friends.’ No. There would be no friends for this boy. Though his herd may seem a bit more civilized than he himself, everything about the fiery red colt screamed savage. His feral green eyes gleamed against the russet hues of his face, almost illuminated by the red hues of his skin. Were there any other moment, Torvi would have found him almost cute. Perhaps her heart might have even fluttered at the dangerous shine in his eyes of multifaceted hues. Not now. Not ever. As if resolved to this decision, she gives her own head another shake, stamping a single hoof in the warm, wet sand. The solid thunk of the ground beneath her hoof serves as yet another reminder that he had only moments ago slammed into her shoulder. The result, a dull ache that made her think twice about stomping her hoof again.

However, the mention of her mother seemed to brighten the colt. Torvi did not miss how his small ears perked or the way his broad frame seemed to straighten at the mention of her mother. Did he know her? Suspicion once more gleams in her pale eyes as Torvi takes a bold step towards him. The need to find her mother overshadowed whatever lingering fears she might feel towards the colt with no name. A single dial flickers in confusion as she stretches her neck towards him hopefully, inhaling the thick perfume of his scent. It is not there. Beneath the dead flavors of milk and sweet aromatic perfume of flowers and decaying leaf litter, there is no breath of her mother. No scent of warm summer winds or pungent pine as Torvi had often remembered so vividly of Tuari’s scent.

She studies the boy now, her pale azure eyes drawing over the curves and contours of his face. From the broad blaze to the red whiskers along his muzzle and back up to the deep emerald green of his eyes. ”Have you seen her?” she asks, now reassured that he could actually speak more than a single word. His speech may be broken, but it was enough for her to understand at least remotely. Creamy silver head tilts sideways as she glances back at the boy. ”She looks like me. Tuari…. Is she here?” she asks, turning her gaze away from him once more to gaze at the jungle bathed in shadow. It was not like she had any hope of seeing into the darkness but nonetheless she prayed that her words might cause the mare to materialize from the green backdrop.

He asks where and though she tried to remain optimistic, suddenly Torvi feels that hope begin to falter. Small muzzle drops an inch as Torvi casts her eyes downward, studying the lines of her hooves. ”I...I...I don't know.” she murmurs, her voice fading as the pang of loneliness begins to again sweep over her. Though Tuari had never been big on displays of affection, the pale mare was mother nonetheless. To be without her so suddenly and for so long without even a word as to where she was or what had happened was enough to make her feel like the small feebly filly again. The truth was, she did not know, and it was that not knowing that hurt the most.