Father was dead. Father was alive. Father had laid himself down in a blizzard and frozen to death. Father would never be so foolish to do that. Father didn’t care anymore. Father always cared about them and would never leave them.
Over the past year in the two Zevu had been alive, he had often heard his two older sisters reach this argument and, as always, he remained absolutely quiet during it. Often they attempted to speak in hushed voices, not wanting to upset him most likely, but he always overheard them. Mariael, his older, tougher, fiercer sister, was convinced the trio of siblings had been abandoned by their gold-freckled father. Maziel, his blind, soft, sweet sister was convinced their father would never have given up during a snowstorm and let the elements take him away from them. They’d argued about it for a year and neither had won. Mariael always just went quiet eventually because she could hear the gradual strain of tense stress climbing in Maziel’s voice.
In the last two months, however, neither sister had spoken of it. Sometimes, when Zevu was exploring the Bay territory where he’d grown up on his own, he often looked for a sign of their father. There were some days he wished he could find him alive, march back with him to where Maziel was and see her light up at the presence of their father. Other times, more sour times (these were few and far in-between for the cheery-disposed young stallion) he scoured the land for a carcass.
Tonight was not one of those nights he looked for their father, but a night Mariael had roused him from his slumber with a delicate brush of her muzzle and told him to scout the border of the Bay. Normally she took the responsibility on her own, but some nights she liked to stay with Maziel instead. Nothing ever came of the walks, but Mariael assured him they were important. So, Zevu, a brother who respected his sister’s word as law, took off to make his way along a familiar, hoof-worn path throughout the wide expanse of their territory.
He expected to find absolutely nothing, trek back into the shelter of the trees, tuck between the warmth of his sister’s and doze off again, but as he neared the beach something much unexpected broke into the monotony. Zevu tensed, head whipping upright and pale ears flicking at the sound of a whinny at his back. It was low, but beckoning, and he turned and searched the moonlit drenched beach for the sight of the caller.
With her lithe figure, the dips of her hips and the dark of her coat broken by white, she was quite possibly one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen (Zevu would think that of any mare who was not his sister, truth be told, but he always meant it, too). Immediately a rumble deeper than he had any rightful age to make pushed behind his closed lips as his tail flagged off his haunches and he picked his way toward her, knowing the pale cream and white of his body was absolutely glowing beneath the moonlight. Zevu tossed his head, mane flicking over his neck as a wide, charming smile stole across his mouth.
If Mariael ever feared the Bay be raided by mares, it was best to never ever send Zevu to fend them off, for he was more likely to fall in love with a girl than he was to ever drive her away.
“Hello,” he said, his voice at that juncture of youthful and maturing. He stretched his neck, reaching so they might share a few warm, telling breaths. His blue eyes were vivid as he watched her. “I, too, enjoy moonlit walks on the beach.”
If he could wink, he just might have.
"What brings you to the Bay?"
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