Oswin trailed Tyr’s son across the vast expanse of Crossing Isle, from one end to the other, and did her best not to think too much about the tangle of thoughts crisscrossing in her mind. From the months (years?) of feeling lost until now, trailing the boy to get to Tyr, everything felt as though she had been submerged in a fog. With each determined and quick step toward the Lagoon the fog was dissipating, leaving her more clear-headed than she’d been in ages. Though her heart warred with itself, Oswin chose instead to listen to her mind and to set aside all the dour opinions of Tyr behind her to instead remember him as she knew him best.

She followed Vadim’s lead in being somewhat quiet and as inconspicuous as possible as they stole into the Lagoon. Knowing what little she knew, Oswin doubted her presence would be as welcome here as it once was (and even then, was she really ever welcome?). It would be easiest for the pair of them to find Tyr alone and, thankfully, that was exactly how they found him.

Oswin’s blue eyes narrowed as she looked over the large beast of a stallion and willed her heart not to race at the sight of him. It’d been too long since she’d visited, and too long since he had any reason to challenge lesser opinions of him by the Peak mares and come to see her. For a moment she lamented, thinking of how he’d yet to meet Filumena and see the firecracker their daughter was. Again, these were thoughts to set aside. What she needed to focus on now was the reason Vadim had brought her here.

At Tyr’s turned-back ears, Oswin’s turned back too. She did not go submissive, lifting her pale chin higher with pride and fixing him with a firm glare. “No.” Oswin said the word just as firmly as he’d said his command, just as plainly, and just as inarguably. Her front right-hoof lifted and stomped the ground in front of her pointedly. “You can’t bully me away, Tyr, you should know that by now.” She fought to keep her voice firm rather than letting it go soft and warm as it wanted to. Despite everything, every piece of her ached for every piece of him, and Oswin wanted nothing more than to crash up against his strength and press her skin as close to his as she could. This wasn’t the time for intimacy, so her pale hooves stayed firmly planted with a cushion of space still set between them.

“What is this?” She asked, glancing down toward the leg he favored and then looking back at him. Oswin wasn’t talking about the injury, though. She was talking about it all – what put him in this condition and what had sent his son fleeing to the Peak to find her for fear he was going to kill the new stallion leading the Lagoon. Tyr was a sight when he was angry, but Oswin thought that Tyr understood that better than most. He knew how to make himself look like a monstrous beast, how to be a monstrous beast, because the world told him that’s exactly what he was born to be with a size and physical prowess such as he possessed. “What are you doing?”

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.