“Hah! Gotcha!” A triumphant young cry crowed from the pale pink lips of the yearling mare as she lipped at the haunches of the younger, smaller brown, white, and black filly.
“No fair, you always catch me!” Came a rebuttal cry, the smaller filly snorting and stomping defiantly onto the flat grounds they’d been running on. “You’re bigger!”
The older filly laughed, clearly unmoved by the young girl's irritation. “I guess that just means you have to be better,” she teased, winked, and flicked out her half-grown white tail before turning around and darting off. The young filly appeared shocked, then irritated, and then determined, launching forward and taking off in her wake. As much as the older filly seemed to enjoy making it a challenge, she did slow down her gait with some subtlety, allowing herself to eventually be caught after the pair had darted around the thick trunk of a tree, then a few large rocks.
From a little ways away, beneath the shade of another large tree, a gold and white mare was watching them run about. Her posture was one of complete ease, relaxing where it was somewhat cool. It was good to see the girls running about now that it wasn’t so hot, the peak of summer far past them and autumn on the horizon. Laoise (the youngest) had been born late in the spring season, and as a first-time mother, Leliel had worried that would stunt the growth of her daughter. Luckily it seemed the girl was growing strong rather quickly, and with Elaine acting as an older sister, she was never without a playmate to have fun with.
Both girls came trotting around toward where Leliel was, making for the small pond of water she’d been resting near, their sides heaving with exertion and happy smiles plastered across their faces. “Good, you two wear yourselves out,” she remarked playfully once they’d come near enough to hear her, “then you won’t bother me later.” It was said without any true irritation to it - Leliel had taken to motherhood with a natural ease, despite all her fears and worries leading up to it. The children hadn’t bothered her much, and likely wouldn’t. Maybe once they’d rested from their last bout of play she’d get them riled up again just to have an excuse to stretch out her legs across the vast Savanna expanse of race with them… unless, of course, there was someone else in the herd nearby who wasn’t interested in running and wanted a good conversational partner. Leliel only glanced briefly around, but looked back at the girls as they started to splash in the shallows and giggle, Laoise having jumped into the water and sent a small wave over Elaine’s legs and up to her chest. She laughed softly and shook her head, a smile remaining across her muzzle even after her laughter died out.
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