PERSEPHONE

Persephone shivered, her white-flecked coat slick and dripping with icy water from the swim. She shook herself as dry as she could manage, but the cold seemed to cling to her as tightly as her own skin. It was only the beginning of autumn, but this land felt as though it were in the depths of winter already judging by the temperate Persephone was used to.

She had heard from the passers-by on the Crossing that the lands had vastly different climates, but words were no preparation for the wind that bit at her sides. Perhaps this had not been the best place to begin the explorations which she had planned, but to turn back now seemed pointless, so she steeled herself and headed further up the shore.

Persephone did not know the territories on the strange land – Luthien and the Crossing were the only places she had managed to familiarise herself with well enough so far, but she knew that knowledge was power and she did not intend to remain ignorant of the place in which she lived, and especially of the potentially allies and enemies with which she shared this chain of islands.

Knowing that she found intruders in her own home distasteful, Persephone did not venture far into the bay in which she had washed up, noticing that the scents of mares and stallions alike were quite strong here, despite the wind which tugged at her damp tresses. In the distance she could see that the rocky beach dissolved into sparse grasses and then, eventually, more vegetation as the land began to sprout dense trees before the mountains that surrounded them.

She longed to shelter in them, out of the biting breeze, but they were still quite a way off and she was loathe to go further and find herself ambushed in an unfamiliar place by an unfriendly resident. So she settled on getting just to the end of the beach, where the grasses began to peek through the ground, and where the wind coming over the sea was not quite as cold and rough, before she called out for someone’s attention.

all of your demons will wither away

mixed, bay varnish roan blanket, 14.3hh