The moment he approaches, Clafuray watches him with guarded interest. The way he slinks about her, and the words that roll off his tongue, warn the greying mare that she should proceed with caution. That he offers no information, aside from that which Calfuray is welcome to glean for herself, if she so desired. All she had to do was close the distance between them, skim her velvet muzzle across his dark hide. But the question he asks, innocent (or not) as it may be, stings in a way the stranger could not have foreseen.
Have you lost your way, little dove?
Yes. For the longest time, she’d felt untethered, disconnected, and she only had herself to blame. She’d lost herself, long before she’d run away from all she’d ever known. But, for the sake of self-preservation, and not making herself more vulnerable than she already was, Calfuray pressed her lips together and shook her head lightly in what she hoped was polite dismissal. "No," she murmurs. "I’m not -"
Lost.
The approach of another immediately wrest her attention away, and the moment her dark eyes settled on the pale figure, the breath stilled in her chest. Orphiel. She’d know him anywhere. It had been… Years, and they had both changed. It was foolish to hope, she knew that - they’d only met the once, and she’d been no-one of importance. He probably didn’t even -
Calfuray?
Swallowing the lump that had lodged in her throat, the grey-gold mare nodded hastily, wide-eyed and tongue tied. "Hey Orphiel," she greeted, her voice so much lighter than she felt. She hesitates momentarily when he asks of her; is everything okay?
No, she wants to say. The day she’d met him had been one of her last good days, before her small little family had started fracturing. But instead, she shifts her weight, giving herself away a little, and answers perhaps a little too slowly, her voice dropping a little in the hopes that the faint quaver in her voice would go unnoticed. "Yeah, everything’s okay."
Truth was, nothing was okay, but it’s not like she could ever admit as much out loud. Not in front of a stranger. Especially not in front of Orphiel.
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