“Ava,” she replied. An amused smile clung to her lips. She found the stallion’s apparently distracted nature more charming than offensive, and it did not bother her. It took a lot to rile Ava, if she could be said to have much of a temper at all. The oasis came into view then, before anything else could be said, and Ava’s bright, emerald-green eyes wandered as they sought to drink in the sight of the beautiful place – a small patch overflowing with life in the middle of such an arid, barren land. Her attention was only drawn back to the stallion as they came to the water’s edge and he answered her question with a proper introduction. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Orhan,” she replied with a smile before following her companion’s example and lowering her head to drink. The water was refreshing in the heat, and Ava had not realised quite how much of a toll it had taken on her until she drank and relieved her dry throat. When she was done, droplets of water fell from her lips as she lifted her head, glittering in the sunlight before they hit the sand. Relaxed, she flicked her tail lazily across her side and rested her weight on one hind hoof. “Everyone has a story,” Ava corrected him gently, before pausing a moment to consider her answer to his question. “For me, all of the other islands hold many memories for me – some good, some bad, but when I decided to come back to the Lost Islands I decided I didn’t want to relive any of them.” She fell silent for a moment, then fixed her smile that had faltered ever so slightly. “So here I am. Exploring. Making new memories instead.” |