Rivka remains silent as she obediently follows the painted dunskin stallion away from the familiar shores of Atlantis. Fear and worry mingle together within her mind. Was Charby okay? Had the bachelor stallion hurt her? Why had he come with his eyes set on her? What was she to him? Hell, what was she to anyone?

Silently she paddled against the ocean currents, clenching her jaws together tightly in concentration but feeling her focus beginning to drift father and father away. Drifting back to Atlantis and the small measure of peace she had found in the Ridge. The Ridge was far different than Paradise had been but at the same time, she felt content and even happy there. She had her hibiscus flowers and their sweet petals, the cool crisp waters to stave away the worst of the humid summer heat, she even had thick grass to graze on near the edge of the falling water pools. Atlantis was all she had ever known and now, it was behind her and Rivka wondered if she would ever see it again.

Small, black ears turn backwards, protecting her sensitive ears from most of the ocean spray that swept up around her. The stallion did not offer any sort of comforting words or reassurances and so Rivka did think she would ever receive it. Instead of dwelling on the depths of her despair as she once might have, the black and white mare instead focuses on counting the strides of her legs. ’sixty nine… seventy two… eighty three…’ Ninety seven before her hooves touch solid ground beneath her. Dark lashes blink away the droplets of salt water clinging to them and for the first time she registers the unfamiliar island looming before her.

The Lagoon.

At least, that is the word she had overheard the stallion speak when he first issued his challenge to Charybdis. Like the stallion, this place is foreign to her. Even the ocean seems to have lost its pull and instead ripples lazily around her slight figure as cautiously she wades from its grasp. Paper thin nostrils flare as the woman inhales the strong salt smell of seagrass and reeds. Nervousness prickles at her skin like a cold rain after a warm day. What was it the stallion had said? The boys would be happy? She might be young but not completely naive. There was a reason why father had always despised the Lagoon and even Charybdis seemed less than thrilled at the strange stallion’s appearance. Was this why?

Tension binds her muscles as stiffly, the starshine mare halts at the water’s edge, turning her dark eyes towards the old stallion expectantly. What now.