"Leave, then, if that's what you want."
It's the last thing her father says to her. The words that drive the ultimate wedge between her and her family, after years of conflict and misunderstanding. It's not that she wants to leave, but there's no denying it's what's best. As cliché as it sounds, her parents will never understand her, and she will never be enough for them. There's no way she can be - or wants to be - the perfectly poised princess they desire her to be. Where they're content to let the masses fall to the wayside, ignored in favor of power and luxury, she finds herself unwilling to turn a blind eye. How, she wonders, can her own family lack such empathy, while she finds herself overflowing with it, desperate to give it somewhere to go.
But she can't do that trapped under the burdensome expectations of her family. So she leaves, and doesn't bother to look back, letting the tides carry her far from the pressures of her previous life. She washes ashore on some unknown island in the middle of the ocean, crowned at one end by a majestic peak. The sun is high in the sky, fighting off the chill from the autumn air as she pulls herself from the sea. She pauses to shake the water from her body and get her bearings before pressing on.
The sun warms her back and the long grass sways softly against her knees as she walks through the meadow. Continuing north, the sabino mare is eventually met with a forest's edge, a thick copse of trees rising up to meet her. She pauses beneath the shade of a mighty oak, its branches reaching far above the surrounding trees. But its canopy has grown sparse with the impending arrival of winter, leaves sprinkling down on her in a shower of orange and red.
Nearby she can still hear the ocean, a gentle repetitive murmur that lulls her into a more relaxed stance, ears lolling and eyes falling shut. She allows herself to truly rest and breathe and for the first time in a long time, she feels at peace.
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