[ let me light up the sky]
She hoped that her inattention would not make Wonka feel hurt or left out; there was also the matter that Tarrant was closer to her in age. He was safer territory, too – not young enough to be viewed as a child. Would it have been like that between her and her baby, had he grown up? Would they have been close and best friends? Would he have known her inside out, would he have known her very heart? Would she be looking on with pride? The questions came and they tore at her heart, and her smile faltered.
Tarrant dismissed Wonka, and she was able to relax. Should she tell him? Maybe part of the story, but she was not ready to share her past with him. She had just met him, and she had made an ass of herself for the most part of their conversation. Paying attention only to him probably made her look like a stingy, stuck up mare. Before she could share her reasons for preferring Tarrant, though, he asked her where she’d like to start. “I don’t know,” she admitted, glancing away and across the inlet, “ I’m new to the islands, so I don’t know much about anywhere, really. What is your favorite spot?” There, that was a good way to show interest in him.
She shuffled her weight, still feeling awkward from how stilted the conversation had felt until now. The questions about her lost child still filled her head, but they were muted now. Pulse was able to concentrate on the here and now, without a child-stallion staring her in the face. It was a sad thing, but she knew she would have to adjust. There were bound to be a lot of foals in the islands in the next season. She could be around them, she could.
Just not yet.
Pulse tucked her nose close to her chest and peered at Tarrant through her dark mane. She wanted to explain, felt the need to, but she didn’t. She could not. Maybe in a few minutes, after they spoke more. Oh, she felt so awkward but she could not control herself. “Were you born here?” she asked instead of voicing an apology.
Here in the inlet, would she one day call this her home? Would she become friends with the young stallion, Wonka, as well as his father? She did not want to think so far ahead, but it was a possibility. The cold weather would take something to get used to, but the water was pretty. The whole inlet was pretty, and she just knew that the inlet would be gorgeous in the grasp of winter. No, Pulse was not yet prepared to make such a decision.
P U L S E
[let me tell you why
i would die for you] |