Inka

"I'll go look for him," Jetta said, and began to meander her way through the tall grass of the prairie. Snow had not fallen on Luthien yet, but it was bitterly cold, and the young mare's white legs disturbed delicate crystals of frost as she strolled away.

Inka watched her daughter leave, and shivered as her thick black coat dried in the frigid air. The swim to Luthien had been mind-numbingly cold, but she could not stand the thought of having to remain in the peak for one more day. The few months after Sterre and Het Vuur's deaths had been torturous, with Inka all but becoming a recluse in her attempts to avoid the places where she knew their bodies lay. Now that Diamant was strong enough to endure the swim, she was giving her family the vacation they needed, even if little Diamant did not know the true reason of their departure.

Inka had always prided herself on her honesty, but in her grief she found that she could no longer bear the truth. Adelheid had no knowledge of her father or that she was about to meet him, Diamant had no knowledge of his parentage, and Inka had insisted to both her daughters that they not reveal the reality of his situation to him. That would be a job for her when he was much older. For all he knew, he was as much Inka's child as Jetta and Adelheid were.

I lost one son and gained another. It was funny how things worked out sometimes.

The little black colt pressed against Inka's side, his tiny body trembling and nostrils puffing clouds of condensation like a feeble chimney. The Friesian mare's eyelids were heavy as she looked down at him, at the amber eyes he'd inherited from his father and the diamond-shaped star between them he'd inherited from his mother. He looked back at her, and she could see that he was even more exhausted than she was. Perhaps we came too soon. But we can't turn back now.

"We'll warm up as soon as our coats dry, and then you'll see it's not so cold here as it is back home," Inka promised her adopted son, and he nodded but said nothing.

The tall mare lifted her eyes and almost immediately spotted another horse in the distance. At first she thought it was Jetta returning, for the young mare was more or less the same color and age as her eldest daughter, but as she watched the stranger she saw that she was too short, too dark, and too fine-boned. She is definitely one of Val's daughters, though, Inka mused to herself, noting the similarities in build and the white markings that all his children seemed to share.

Without hesitation she approached the mare, her head high and ears pricked. Diamant kept close to her side for warmth, his nose tucking shyly to his chest when he saw that they were nearing a stranger.

"Hello," Inka called out in a friendly manner, and offered her nose to the petite young mare when they were close enough. "I'm Inka, and this is Diamant. I don't suppose you've seen Valentine around anywhere?"