Every time she engaged in a physical spar, Oswin’s adrenaline soared. She would pay for the collisions later and she knew Tyr would be angry that she hadn’t bellowed out a call to alert him of what she was about to do. But as soon as her and the red stallion met in battle, she forgot all about the consequences. A smile curved her lips almost wildly, even as she was smacked by his weight and grunted from the force. One could only imagine the bruising she’d suffer later on, or how many days the aches would impede her. She wasn’t the young thing she was, but she didn’t care. Oswin would suffer as many days of stiffness and pain she earned from this bout as long as it meant she kept this enraged beast from fighting anyone else in the Ridge.

It was more than clear to her that he was lashing out; Oswin had been in enough fights for enough different reasons in her life, and she recognized this for what it was.

For years after her brother’s accidental death, she and Mariael had engaged in fights just like this one. Oswin had suffered every blow, thinking it was what she was supposed to do for her niece that was so very clearly hurting. There was absolutely no way for her to know that this stallion was going through the same thing, but even as they swung and snapped at one another, Oswin couldn’t help but feel inclined to think so. It’d been years since she and Mariael had blown up at one another and fought, but she swore the rage in his eyes was the same that’d once glistened in Mariael’s.

Breathing heavily, she backed away as the stallion went careening to the ground, just able to avoid getting accidentally caught by his weight as he fell. She heard both the thud of his body hitting the ground and a strange pop or crack or crunch that just didn’t sound right and sent a shiver through her belly. Oswin trotted a few steps off in order to turn herself around and get a better look at the stallion, watching him struggle upward, then lunge toward her, and struggle to keep himself upright.

Still he tried to get her. His teeth snapped near her hind and Oswin kicked out, not as hard as she could have, and actually made sure not to hit his face. Instead she aimed for the thick muscle over his chest, it’d hurt and it’d bruise, and it’d push him back away from her so he couldn’t bite her, but it wasn’t going to kill him like it might if she smacked his face with full force.

“Stop!” She ordered him as she pounded her hoof into the meat of his chest. “You’re already injured, you fool!”

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.