it's quiet and i hate the sound

Dexter had left the Bay. Shale had returned from the Crossing in time to see his pale mane whipping around his dark head as it bobbed in the waves, already so far in the direction they all knew lead nowhere. The Crossing and the other islands all lay to one side of Tinuvel; Dexter had apparently been intent on running into none of those destinations. Let him drown, then, Shale thought. The brute had been too stupid to realize that she was his daughter, and had let Shale grow up knowing absolutely nothing about her parents. She knew a little now, but very little, and it hardly made a difference anyway.

Bitter and disappointed in her father’s sudden flight, Shale had decided that the Bay was now hers, but no sooner had she made such a decision than the heavy painted stallion had made his. Even more frustrated than before, the pale mare had stormed off to sulk and hide from the new brute and whatever herd he brought along. So far she had successfully remained unnoticed, but she wasn’t sure how long that would last, as Dexter had frequently patrolled his territory and this new stallion probably did the same.

Well, Shale would enjoy her freedom while it lasted, if she could call it freedom. She had to avoid most of the territory, which wasn’t freedom at all, but that was better than roaming the territory whilst obeying the rules of said territory. Shale certainly preferred the former option, and so she did her best to stick to the rocky divide between the Bay and the Inlet, what she thought of as no man’s land (and, consequently, her land). As the cliffs were riddled with streambed paths and tunnels, she could roam the mountainous area in the open at night and explore the underground during the day.

As it was night, Shale was currently picking her way along the carved-out path of a creek that was not very wide but fairly deep. The water reached above her knees, where the tan fur of her legs faded into the white of the rest of her body. Her dark vision had become excellent from her time avoiding the light, and yet she didn’t realize how far down she had come on the Inlet side of the divide. Or rather, part of her realized it, but justified that since she hadn’t been caught yet, by either the Bay stallion or the Inlet stallion, she wouldn’t be caught now.

shale

pale daughter of dexter and alacran