Soljor’s call rang clearly to where Mercury lurked in the thickest part of the forest. He was close, but his voice was directed away from her; the frosty mare was behind him. She retained a little bit of her dark colors, dusted gently in dapples on her shoulder, rump and lower legs, but the rest of her was very pale. Her second seasonal shed had released most of her darker hairs, and her winter coat had come in almost entirely white. Her summer coat would probably have almost no color.

Mercury shifted her pale body slightly to the left, where Soljor’s voice had come from. She didn’t move toward it. She stood so very still, still enough to hear the footsteps of the other mares approaching. If Mercury showed up, she would be the last to come.

But should she show up? She was completely alone in this herd. The land itself and Soljor were her only friends. She didn’t care for anyone else, and no one else cared for her. Well, she cared a bit, or she had, before the scent of Lagoon on the cold Tinuvel wind had swept away all the care she possessed. Soljor and the Bay were her only friends, she repeated to herself. The rest of them are just sheep.

But that wasn’t entirely true. A small part of Mercury respected those mares for so loyally remaining in this frozen shithole. It was easy for Mercury to be here. She wasn’t heavily built, nor did she have a nice shaggy winter coat, but she had been born here and her blood ran cold. A half-decent winter coat was just fine for her, and she was proud of mares like Cut Up Angel and Rattlebone who had little to keep them warm, but who toughed it out in this place anyway.

I should tell them, she almost thought, but those warm feelings were already retreating and she was blank again.

Still, she decided to go and join them, at the very least to learn who was living here outside of the small handful of mares she had already met. She drifted toward the scents of the mares and the two stallions, slipping out of the trees behind Soljor like a pale shadow. She bumped her nose against his hip and made no attempt to squeeze between him and whomever he had by his side. She could see them all, and hear them as well; she need not get any closer.

They were not unfriendly, but Mercury noticed they still remained scattered. No lead mare, then. The pale mare had almost wanted to step up herself, but in the end she decided against it. This was her territory, and she didn’t feel like she should have to assert her dominance over these mares. They were fine mares, Mercury wasn’t bothered by any of them, and as far as she was concerned, they could do what they wanted. As long as none of them rose above Mercury herself.

Maybe she should become lead mare, then, if only to let them know she was not to be challenged. Lead mare came with responsibilities, though, and Mercury felt unable to handle those at the moment. She let her eyes drift from one mare to the next. None of them looked challenging, and that was good, except... Except maybe Fly. Mercury studied her for a few moments, her ears falling back to touch the flying white hairs of her mane. Mercury didn’t care how dominant Fly was around the others, but she did care about the bay mare asserting herself over Mercury.

She glared for a few seconds longer, then returned to studying the other Bay inhabitants.

You love me, and I froze in time
Hungry for that flesh of mine
But I can't compete with the she-wolf
who has brought me to knees
What do you see in those yellow eyes?