Falls

Inka

Inka's suspicions about their mutual tie to Valentine were confirmed in a heartbeat, and the Friesian mare felt her heart beat more rapidly in her chest. She did not want to interrupt her comrade, however, so she let the little golden mare continue speaking, listening as Evaline explained how she had been traded away like a pawn to a new home. It was clear by the tone in the mare's voice that she was not happy about her current situation, and Inka felt a stab of empathy.

She had been a free agent of the Peak for a long time now, but she knew what it was like to have no choice in who she lived with. Inka had been a young mare once, and at the mercy of her sire's authority, she had been faced with being traded away to one of his allies as soon as she'd become mature. Though she had fought and screamed and resisted with all her might, eventually she had ended up in the place she had no desire to go to, and that stallion later became one of her closest friends, and the father of her first child. In their own strange way, things had worked out for her, but she would always have a place in her heart for mares that were not as lucky as she was.

"I see," she commented, unsure whether to address the elephant in the room. She had only just met Evaline, and did not want to overstep her boundaries and offer her condolences where none were desired. So she steered the conversation in another direction. "Funny that you should mention Valentine. He was a good friend of mine. We had a few children together, actually, though we never lived together. That's probably why you and I never crossed paths." She let her gaze drift out to the falls, and she stared dreamily into space. "He was a good stallion, wasn't he?"