Kikka laughs, delighted at the smooth way the stallion picks up the conversation from his companion. "Thank you," she says for them both. Even though the blue and pink horse don’t share the special bond she has with Trell, it’s evident the two are very close and share an intimate relationship. She wonders if they are lovers but dares not voice such a question. Instead, she watches how they interact with one another: Jola’s genuine merriment beside her companion and Jusket’s subtle touch. Her smile warms to see such affection.
The skin of Trell’s shoulder ripples against her body, an unobservable signal that she should remain quiet, and she closes her mouth instead of answering Jola’s questions. "We’re very close," Trell agrees. "Kikka and I have been together since before we were conscious, and hardly parted after birth, though it is necessary at times. Do you remember," he asked, inclining his head toward his sister as he addresses her, "when we were traveling through the badlands and you wanted to follow the perimeter instead of cutting directly through it? And you left me to do just that? It was so strange," he continues as his attention again includes Jusket and Jola. "It felt wrong, knowing Kikka was alive but not with me."
Kikka’s smile gets smaller, her eyes a little distant as she remembers the exact memory he’s described for the benefit of their company. Except it hadn’t happened that way at all; Trell wanted her to take the outer route, to cover the most ground between the two of them while he wound through the irregular center. He had insisted they split up.
Trell’s still speaking. "A little painful, too, if I have to be honest," he says with a bit of a laugh, as if he’s embarrassed to admit this. "I’ve never wanted to be parted from Kikka. I’d thought she’d felt the same." Again, that vocal shrug of self-consciousness, and then a casual nudge as he leans his weight against hers, a brief jostle encouraging her to laugh about it with him, as if his words haven’t cut deep into her heart and aren’t resounding around the wide chambers of that muscle in her chest as he changes the subject. Only a brief flicker of pain passes over her face before Kikka covers it with a smile. She can feel how stiff her expression is and hopes no one will notice. Trell will be furious with her later if she can’t play her part— which is apparently a callous, uncaring mare willing to abandon her twin brother while roaming unfamiliar territory. It’s so unlike her, and so unfair of him to claim she is such a way, she wants to cry.
"You two seem a hardy pair, well-suited to mountain ranges. Kikka and I have just recently come to these islands; are you native to any of the ranges here, or are you two also foreigners?" Trell asks. He straightens up and leans forward a little, dislodging Kikka in the process. "We grew up on the mainland and I really didn’t expect to find anything out here. But I wanted to see the ocean, and when we saw the island out here, well, we had to cross the water to explore it. We love to explore. Right, Kikka?"
She’s been too quiet. Trell’s flicking tail stings her hindquarters and her eyes suddenly clear. She feels numb inside. "Yes," she says. "We’ve seen so many places together." Her voice is quiet but she keeps it steady. "How did you two come to be together?" she asks. "Did you grow up in the same herd?" |