The air still felt like winter, but the breeze smelled of spring, and the sun warmed Cortana’s inky coat despite the chilly atmosphere. The snow had probably already left the Crossing, but it remained in Tinuvel this early in the season and probably wouldn’t truly leave until close to summer. The long winters weren’t so bad. Cortana looked forward to the short, sweet summer in the next few months, but she had fattened up a bit since arriving and the lingering cold weather was not unbearable.

She had spent the past several days pushing snow around with her nose and plucking up whatever little goodies she found beneath, wondering whether or not to approach the Inlet herd. She knew she was physically ready; she had slept well after the rough swim over, and in her time alone she had healed and even filled out a bit. The Inlet was large and not lacking in vegetation, if you had the patience to dig for it. The main reason she hesitated to present herself was because she was unsure if Darius was upset with her; she had, after all, been invited to his home only to disappear into its many corners. He hadn’t come looking for her since, as far as she could tell, but perhaps he was polite; ladies are generally not found if they do not want to be, and Cortana assumed Darius was clever enough to know that.

Still, she felt rather guilty. She took to exploring the edges of what she found to be more or less his piece of the Inlet, and discovered that he was usually alone. This prompted her to seek him out, traveling the shores in search of him in the open and retreating back into the forest to track him down with her nose when she didn’t spot him. Her search was mostly without haste, though she was determined to catch the handsome stallion before the sun began setting, and apologize for her absence. The shadows were growing long by the time she spotted him through the trees, and she picked up her pace to a lazy trot.

The little black mare halted a few trees away and whinnied brightly at the familiar spotted stallion.

OOC: this might be crappier than I expect it to be upon posting, I'm too lazy to proofread D:

Cortana