HTML Testing

Quiet as Silka had gone, she had returned. The red mare had stumbled up from the surf onto the shore, her legs quivering from the swim and her skin raised with gooseflesh though it did little to fluff up her salt slicked fur. Shaking as much of the water off as she could, she had ventured further inland to hide among the trees as anxiety tightened in her chest and caused her heart to race. Had Sul noticed she had gone? And if he had, some tiny voice in the back of her mind asked, why wasn’t he waited on the shore for her as she had done him countless times when he had first started traveling? It was only with time, and the mares that he had brought home, that she had stopped her long waits by the water.


As time passed, and her fiery coat dried, Silka slowly ventured from her hiding place among the pines to begin grazing. With the season no longer afflicting her body, and the physical strain she had been under with the swim, her appetite had come back tenfold. Enough to make her fully invested in her food rather than her surroundings. So, when the warm nicker reached out to her, it was startling, especially since it was not Sul’s.


Quickly lifting her head, Silka looked to the red woman who now greeted her. She spoke gently, warmly, and a longing quickly filled her that she had never experienced before. As a herd animal, Silka had spent an incredible amount of time alone. Even if she did cuddle Sul at night, it wasn’t the same as being among her own kind. Of course, it was of her own choice. Not once had she sought out the women that Sul had brought home. Not Ariah, who had extended the first greeting. Nor Raksha, who stood before her now, offering gratitude for the kindness Silka had given that day Zaria was born. Perhaps she should feel guilt for keeping away from them? Or perhaps it was something else that churned in her gut now, as she looked at the mother of Sul’s child.


“It is a pleasure to officially meet you, Raksha.” Silka replied politely, giving a small bob of her head. “My name is Silka.” She offered, since it would probably be easy to forget given how much she was around. “It was truly no trouble that day, I am happy I was able to help.” Not once did Silka lie. Even if she had not reacted quite as she probably should have to poor little Zaria, it did not mean that Silka hated any of them. But that didn’t keep the darkness of jealousy at bay either.