Oswin’s life had taken on a strange sort of monotony, despite whatever had briefly stirred within her when she’d come face-to-face with the stallion who drove Fishbone from the Peak. As much as she had come to peace with her disastrous attempt at taking back the Peak’s leadership position, she hadn’t quite come to the same peace within her heart. Everything had been so simple and straightforward when she had lived here in the Peak before. It was the life she had planned for and sought out and when she’d been here, Oswin had known exactly who she was, her place, and what she was doing.

Sometimes she wondered if leaving the islands with her brother’s children had been one of the biggest mistakes she had ever made. The years spent away from the islands had changed her in ways she hadn’t anticipated, and the islands themselves had changed to.

An idea began to slowly touch her mind that morning. Maybe she didn’t belong to the Peak any more. Maybe she was only holding on to some hopeless idea that she belonged here, but she’d been a fraud from the very first day. How many horses like her mother had she actually saved? How much good had actually been done? Or… or maybe in her youth her ideals had made her more attuned to this place, but now that she was older, she no longer belonged like she had before.

Oswin’s blue eyes grew dark and troubled, the idea snowballing inside her head, giving her the first pricklings of feelings she’d felt in weeks. Not all of the feelings were good ones, but they were something, and she wondered…

Maybe she should leave the Peak. Even just for a season, to see if her hunch was correct. A change; something to help her feel like she could breathe again. Somewhere she could really find herself and understand what it was she wanted. Oswin’s eyes stung with tears as she looked around the top of the tall mountain, but she swallowed back against the tightness in her throat and nodded numbly to herself. Yes… she was no good here to her sisters, to herself, or to her children. Oswin stumbled a step or two away, walking toward where the mountains opened and the path of descent started, almost as though she was walking in a dream.

Then, suddenly, a panicked call struck the air. Oswin went still and alert, her neck pulling into her shoulders and her blue eyes going wide. The voice was calling for her, but it was mostly unfamiliar. Still, the gold-and-white mare picked up her hooves and carried herself quickly to meet who it was that had beckoned her. He wasn’t very far down the way, and immediately she recognized his relation, even if she didn’t necessarily recognize him. He was clearly a son of Tyr, but the panic across his face and the sweat lathered and damp on his skin made her nervous. What news was he bringing her? What had happened to Tyr?

Oswin moved quickly to meet him, her eyes sharper than they’d been in months. “What is it? What happened?” She didn’t mean to be so blunt, but the anxiety was building, her heart was pounding in her chest and her blood was rushing through her ears.

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.