I am the razor in the hands of your heart;
And I am the razor in the hands of God.
Evaline returned to the Dunes in a relatively better mood than she when she had fled the day prior. She was still fuming when swan away from Salem, irrationally angry with Avangeline, but more angry with herself, as her sights locked onto the Crossing in the distance. She wanted to be anywhere else besides the Dunes. Anywhere else but Salem. Her heart ached for Luthien and the Prairie. It ached to see her youngest son and only daughter.
The palomino mare hadn't expected to strike up a conversation with anyone in the Crossing. She was merely looking for a place to be alone, somewhere away from Gabbar and Avangeline. Somewhere where she couldn't see the dark mass of Luthien looming in the distance from the shores of Salem. There at the Crossing, she tried not to think of better days. She tried to forget what Valentine looked like behind her eyelids. She tried not to remember how content she'd felt under his rule. Just like her children, he'd left her behind, too.
But then Inka came along. Evaline couldn't have been further from the typical recruit for the Peak. But something about Inka drew her in. She made amends with herself and how she'd treated Avangeline through her leisurely stroll with this mare. And ironically, she learned more about her family.
Evaline spent the night alone on the Crossing that day. She wasn't ready to return to Gabbar, not in this state. Her time with Inka may have improved her mood and given her a much needed distraction, but the palomino mare didn't trust herself not to fall a part in front of one of them again. And she couldn't do that. Once was already too much. Evaline was tough and she was loyal. There was no room in her life for those who whined and cried. Therefore she saw no reason to inflict that kind of childish behavior on the others in this herd, ones she barely knew.
She fled the Crossing before the morning sun, tip toeing back into the surf just as the day's start began as a faint glow over the horizon. She emerged onto the shore of the Dunes shortly after, just as the sun began to warm the cool and dry terrain. Evaline would have a short hike to find the oasis. So she moved out immediately, knowing Gabbar would have already noticed she was missing by now. By the time she found him, he was standing in the pool while the others slept. Evaline took note of a fresh scent, that of a mare she'd yet to meet. The sunkissed mare moved slowly toward the pool, her coat still damp from her recent swim, and lowered her head for a drink. She responds to his call with her own nicker upon drinking her fill, watching him from behind tired eyes at the edge of the bank.
17 | Arabian cross |14.2 | Palomino | Mother of Kasabian, Shamwari, Vita Nova, Paradiso | Vinyl |