I read the words on torn down walls,
reminding me how much I loved you

“You lead a busy life.” Dickere said in reply to his first statement. Used to a life lived among the herd of mares where the stallion was a silent, stoic figure always on edge for predators, Dickere felt she understood Lyden lived too busy a life to simply spend with her or her sisters. Even now she felt lucky, standing in his presence alone in the Forest, able to speak freely with one another since the first time since he and his son had brought her and her sisters home.

“It is good,” she assured him with a kind smile. Her eyes drifted off toward the enclosure of the forest around them for a moment as she considered his question. “Well, my father and other stallions I’ve known were very…” She frowned in thoughtfulness for a moment. “Well, I suppose compared to how you’ve behaved – they were very unforgiving.” Her hooves shifted on the cold, soft ground, the bed of fallen pines crunching delicately beneath her weight. “I’m not used to a life where I have choices.” It wasn’t said sadly, but more matter-of-fact. How could Dickere be mournful for not being able to make choices when she’d never been given the option before in her life?

The moment between them stilled as a deeper, more sobering conversation became discussed. Dickere swallowed and her spirits sank. The more he spoke, the more she thought of Dock and the more she remembered the sister Dock had been and wasn’t any longer. The soft massage of Lyden’s teeth working the dirt from her coat was relaxing and she leaned her weight toward him and rested her pink muzzle against his skin. “I feel like I’m losing her.” She confessed with her voice tight, on the verge of tears. She closed her eyes against the hot prickle of them behind her eyelids. “She won’t even talk to me anymore, Lyden.” She swallowed. “Dock’s always been different… Father was impatient with her; the other mares of the herd were impatient with her… Even Hickere gets impatient with her sometimes. But not me. I’ve always been there for her.”

A tear slipped from her eyes and went down her cheek, she tucked closer to Lyden simply to have his reassuring physical contact. Even if they hardly knew one another, he understood the situation, willing to listen, and he was a comfort when she was currently forlorn.