Zira had learned every nook and cranny of the Savanna since she had taken it all those months ago. She'd found the grassland abandoned and almost empty, save for a few horses who had remained. They did not seem at all inclined to follow their former leader who she could still smell on Luthien. Wherever he'd gone, he hadn't gone far. She wasn't worried about him coming back for his home, at least. From what the pale woman who loved the shallows, Marrow her name was, she had been told that Kvasir was more lover than fighter and that his kingship had naturally taken it's course. Zira had felt selfish, originally, thinking she had taken someone's home due to circumstances out of their control, but she had been content to find out that was not true. The pale grassland was a far cry from the Lagoon where she had grown up, the polar opposite, which is why she loved it as much as she did. There was some fineries of the rest of Luthien she missed, like those sweet fruits on the Prairie, but the Savanna had it's allure.
Though, she'd come to learn rather quickly that horses in need of sanctuary would not simply blindly stumble into the Savanna by chance. She had to actively seek such creatures out. It had been terrifying, the first few times she returned to the mainland. The very idea of the Crossing sent shivers down her spine and her skin twitching. But each time she had returned to the safety of her Savanna, and it had welcomed her with the familiar swaying grasses and open sky.
The chill of winter was not lost on Zira as she stepped from the frigid shallows. Her skin twitched, and she didn't know if it was anxiety or the weather. Likely both, she decided. Zira could feel the eyes of others on her as she moved, quietly as she could, through the gathering area. None of the horses that raised their eyes from digging up grass beneath the snow needed her. She saw a pretty bay mare with a long flowing mane and the brightest blue eyes she'd ever seen. And a powerful stallion with rippling muscles and an award winning smile. They would draw attention like honey. While she would open her home to any who needed it, she wanted to protect those who could not defend themselves.
The way she'd wanted someone to save her.
She smells him long before she sees him. He stinks of man and Zira's lips tighten against her teeth, her nostrils quivering and scrunching with distaste. The golden mare halts, her ears pinning against the curl of nape for a moment. She doesn't smell the Lagoon on him and she is pleased the smell of acrid decay is not present. She relaxes, visibly, but not entirely. Beneath the thick smell of sea water, there is something else, something unfamiliar. She is still pondering when he steps out from the shadows and into her line of sight. He is tall like her and her ears instinctively press forward. Her brow furrows and she examines him for a moment. He is lean, though not lean the way the strange desert horses were. His ribs were not just visible beneath his thin skin, the deep indentations were like deep carvings in his sides. He keeps moving, barely paying attention to her, if he'd even seen her at all and something in Zira tells her to give chase. And she does. She jumps into a trot, slowing as she nears him, falling into step. She does not draw too close, but she remains alert and bold, closing the gap if he seems as if he'd allow it as they walked.
"Are you well?" She knew what it meant to be starving. She remembers a time when her own body was as gaunt as his, her bones sharp against her taut flesh. She remembers the sight of her ribs as she lay in the deepest trenches of the Lagoon, hoping someone would come and save her. She cannot help but see herself in him and she is drawn, like a magnet, to him. The look on his face is a far cry from the damsel she had once been, but even the strong are not immune to this world. "I'm Zira," she offers, flicking her dark gaze to him. Curiosity gnaws at her bones like a trapped rodent, and she knows she's foolish.
Curiosity killed the cat.
But satisfaction brought it back.
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| ATTICUS X VITANI | 17.1HH | PALOMINO | THE WILDS | KIWI |
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