(ooc: sorry for the long, rambly post that has nothing to do with either of your characters x) I needed to set-up in story that Oswin and Zev both know one another are back on the islands and chose this moment to do so)

It was good to be home, even if home was more quiet than she’d wanted it to be. At the very least it was filled with promise, and that was all Oswin could have hoped to find. She still thought of them - her family - as she’d done most nights after their great falling out on the mainlands. To watch her nieces and nephew split apart had broken some piece of her heart that had been desperate to show that bloodline the love and acceptance her mother - their grandmother - never would.

If only Mariael hadn’t been so…

A familiar smell touched her nose. Oswin frowned and lifted her head, ears perked and eyes bright. Could it be? No, surely she was imagining things…

But there, at the edge of the Peak, walked a stallion of pale creams and frosty whites, looking the very picture of winter itself. He belonged back there, on Tinuvel, where he’d have to shove his chest through the snow and tuck into caves near the hot springs to keep warm. Oswin lifted her head and cried out to him, her warm breath a plume of white, semi-translucent clouds as it hit the cooler air. He stopped and turned, head high and ears perked, attentive and curious.

It seemed he was surprised, too.

After a moment of staring at one another in disbelief, they turned and picked up their hooves to trot the distance toward one another. Their muzzles touched and excitement trembled under their skin as they danced and jerked their heads and playfully tried to lip at one another without actually making any contact.

“Zevulun! I didn’t expect to see you here! When did you come back to the islands?” Oswin asked with her heart lifted into her throat as she stepped back and looked him over.

“Just a few days ago,” he said, and grinned. “I didn’t expect to see you here. Weren’t you the one that agreed we needed to leave the haunting of these islands behind us?”

Oswin laughed and had the decency to look half-sheepish. She hated eating her own words, but he was right. With a sigh she admitted, “Some memories can’t be avoided forever.” Oswin glanced to where the Peak rose high. “The Peak kept calling to me, and then Maia asked me where the Cove was-”

“The Cove? On Tinuvel?”

“Mhm…” Oswin was planning on going there once the weather wasn’t so rough on the northern island to see if her daughter had wound up there after all. “After she asked me about the Cove I just couldn’t stop thinking about this place. About what I promised to do here. Now that your sister-” Her eyes swung back to Zevulun and saw him tense. She sighed. “Well, now that I was alone on the mainlands it just seemed the perfect time to try. Why did you come back?”

Zevulun gave a half-smile, but it wasn’t as boisterous and charming as his normally were. It seemed more sad, if anything.

“I miss her.”

“Avalon?”

“No- Well- Yes. Of course. I’ll always miss Avalon. But…” he trailed off in silence and Oswin let that quiet hang in the air between them. He just needed time to sort through his emotions. He looked back at her. “I miss Mariael. Who she was when she was here. Not the last time we came back, but when she led the Bay. Before… before everything happened with our father. The closest thing I have to her... to him… it’s this place.”

“Are you back on Tinuvel, then?” Oswin asked quietly.

“Not yet. I haven’t worked up the courage.” Zevulun admitted.

“You will,” she nodded affirmatively and was about to say more when she noticed movement on the Peak. Oswin turned and perked her ears, studying the figures that were mounting higher on the thin, often dangerous paths. She recognized Róisín, but who was the mare she’d gone after? She looked back at her nephew and gave him a patient smile. “I have some Peak business to attend to. When you’ve decided where you’re going to stay awhile, come find me and let me know. I’ll come visit.”

She didn’t tell him another reason was that for her agenda, Oswin wanted to try and visit each island and as many herds as she could to understand exactly what it was she’d walked into. Already she’d identified a certain problem in Salem, she could only imagine how many more there were.

“Aw, why don’t I come along with you?” Zevulun suggested with that familiar playfulness in the underbelly of his tone.

Oswin snorted and flicked her ears back. “I am trying to do something here. I don’t have time to play referee to your unwanted flirting.” She nipped toward his neck, but didn’t pinch skin. Her chiding was nothing more than the playful, pretend annoyance of an aunt who was clearly happy to see her nephew again. Even if she didn’t want to deal with him trying to flirt with her sisters while she had to explain their relationship.

One thing at a time.

“Alright, alright.” Zevulun relinquished and grinned as he stepped away from her. “I’ll come by once I’ve figured out where I intend to stay and let you know where that is. Tell your Peak sister’s I said hi.” He gave her a wink.

Oswin laughed and snorted, pretending to snap in his direction again to get him to turn and walk away. Once he did, she turned about herself and looked toward the Peak, seeing that Róisín had stopped where the other mare had. Too curious to stand by and not involve herself, the palomino and white mare started for the Peak, throwing her weight into the climb and careful of loose rocks as she went. She still remembered how to maneuver these thin, winding paths without harming herself and was thankful for that. It was too easy to injure yourself if you weren’t careful here.

As she approached the ledge the mares had stopped on, where they looked out over what territory the Peak sisters governed and at the rest of Crossing Isle beyond that, Oswin caught the unknown mare introducing herself. Bane, who’d grown up here. That inspired confidence and excited curiosity in Oswin. They could use more sisters whose blood was of this summit, who’d been born into the mission this place was meant to be.

“How are things, these days?” She heard Bane ask.

Rather than answer that, as she felt Róisín could give a far better reply than she, Oswin dipped her head as she walked in on their group and cast a fond smile at the young dun sabino, then turned her eyes on their newest company. “Sorry for my intrusion, I was excited to see another new face here and wanted to come join the greeting party. I hope that’s alright. My name is Oswin.” She offered an easy smile, then added, “it’s promising to see old blood returning to the Peak. I was born in Luthien, but spent most of my young adult years here and recently returned myself. Perhaps the Peak is calling us all home.” She offered a soft smile that said she only half-believed such a thing. Maybe it was the Peak… or maybe it was just a coincidence.

oswin
this is as brave as I know how to be.
I know it’s gonna hurt you, but please… be a little proud of me.