I am the razor in the hands of your heart;
And I am the razor in the hands of God.
Evaline listens to Valve's explanation quietly, occasionally shifting her hooves in the hot sand. Her eyes remain on the dark mare, listening curiously as Valve moves from one child of hers to another. She wonders, in this moment, how Valve sees her and thinks of her past. Clearly it's messy, given the strained relationship she had with most, if not all of her kin. But beyond their various complications, Evaline still believed family was the most important thing in her life, and theirs. Despite their issues, they remained close, even if they couldn't agree long enough to physically live together in the same space. Shamwari had always been her favorite. She was grateful to Valentine for the upbringing he gave to her bastard son (who wouldn't be her last bastard children). Thus, she was proud of him and his accomplishments over the Prairie. So Evaline's interest piqued when Valve mentioned she was due to visit him soon.
"Perhaps I can join you to the Desert." She offers. Her jaws chew absentmindedly on nothing for a long moment. "As for Shamwari, do you plan to honor the alliance he forged under Gabbar?"
It was a direct question, but one whose answer was important to Evaline. She imagined Shamwari would not be keen on Evaline staying here if Valve wanted to dissolve the mutual arrangement he instituted with Gabbar that year or so ago. Either way, Evaline wouldn't leave the Dunes unless Valve forced her out. And even then, she'd put up a fight. There was nothing waiting for her in the Prairie. Her son knew that. That's why he sent her here in the first place. And maybe it was fate that Vita Nova ended up nearby. Maybe now was the time to start mending that relationship.
Evaline allows her thoughts to linger on Gabbar and those first months she'd spent on Salem. My God, how she loathed it here for so long. The golden mare was miserable, and made sure each and ever resident of the Dunes knew it. Avangeline, but Gabbar, especially. He had been kind, nonetheless. "You know, when I first met you, I didn't like you." Evaline blurts out, remembering a time when the herd gathered together, and Valve and Evaline talked about the day Cimmaron sank into the sea.
17 | Arabian cross |14.2 | Palomino | Mother of Kasabian, Shamwari, Vita Nova, Paradiso | Vinyl |