She had never thought twice of her mother’s ailment. For the long months of her childhood, Sova had always turned to her mother to see the delicate smile on her face and how she would touch her daughter… while the smoky skinned girl had never felt affection for her half sister, she had loved her mother and had assumed Fishthread to be the most beautiful woman she had met. So she does not offer condolences to the stallion, just as he had not offered any for her crippled mother. It was only after she had come here and learned that her mother’s twisted legs were frowned upon that she had admitted that the black mare was a cripple.

Sova still loved her, but she would not go back to the woman at the end of the day. She had long ago decided that she would stay wherever she was, and her mother would never see her again. Fishthread was happy and comfortable wherever she was not, and the smoky black girl had found her own place.

“Yes, one.” Her voice is soft as she answers his question, reflecting back on the dark desert bred woman she had seen at the watering hole, bathing like a delicate bird and looking all the more beautiful as she did so. “El Aran- she is lovely.” She says, turning to look at Encantador and smiles a small smile as she listens to what he says next. Sova had thought that she could have stood here for ages, just talking to the boy and learning as much as she could, but with that small, tired smile, she speaks again. “I think I will stay here.”

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