I am the razor in the hands of your heart;
And I am the razor in the hands of God.
Evaline sighed deeply as she watched the thin black mare lower herself into the sand. It was such a struggle for her to accept the help of others. It made Evaline feel so terribly embarrassed. So she said nothing and instead parted her jaws to clamp feverishly at the mare's topline. The action was awkward, and Evaline grunted as the effort took all the energy she had to stand upon all four of her wobbly feet. Before they retreated from the shade of the palms, she took two very deep breathes, as if trying to will her body to cool down and sweat, and carefully shook the sand from her body. She eyed Valve when she was ready to move forward, taking small and gingerly steps in the soft sand and leaning her weight into the dark mare when she felt unsteady. The short walk from the trees to the pool's edge felt excruciatingly slow, and all the more humiliating.
Once they reached the water's edge, Evaline trudged into its cool depths, grunting again as the coolness of the water enveloped her overheating body. She stopped only once the water had almost covered all of her back, her neck and just the highest point of her rump visible above the waterline. There she drank too, pursing her pink lips together and swallowing until her stomach ached from fullness. She watched Valve from here, feeling more comfortable in the weightlessness of the water than on firm ground. She exhaled again, giving into the lightheadedness that came in the wake of the exertion it took to walk such few steps.
The golden mare's gaze drifted back to the foals in the distance. They had stopped briefly to watch Evaline wander to the pool, but lost interest quickly and had gone back to their scuffle. When Valve spoke, Evaline's head snapped back to look at her. The mare's facial expression was practically blank. It did not hold the same care that came from her voice, but Evaline believed her concern was genuine. "Oh don't worry about little 'ole me." She said nonchalantly, once again hiding behind her charm. But Evaline too, worried that her health wasn't improving fast enough. She feared something much bigger was wrong with her, and these children would suck what remaining life she had left from her body, slowly but surely. But what other choice did she have?
The mare snorted and adverted her gaze away from Valve. Instead her wide brown eyes focused on the water. Even in the weak current, Evaline felt ashamed when she saw a blurry reflection of herself staring back at her. Oh how far she had fallen. She barely recognized herself anymore. She felt a sudden tightness in her throat and before the tears began to fall she looked up again, swallowing hard and snorting again. "I hate that I am such a burden to you." She said weakly, her head tuned back so her muzzle almost touched her barrel. Her eyes watched as the chopping strands of her blonde tail drifted at the surface. "But what am I supposed to do?"
17 | Arabian cross |14.2 | Palomino | Mother of Kasabian, Shamwari, Vita Nova, Paradiso | Vinyl |