Meadow

Jola grinned at Kikka's observation. Although, now they weren't supporting a herd. It was just them on their own in this new, strange place. The pink mare knew she could easily adapt to this change but she wasn't as confident in her blue companion. All his life had been building and protecting his herd, but this was the first time he truly only had to look after himself. She flicked her tail absentmindedly and perked her ears as the bay mare started to describe what seemed like her favorite discoveries. Jusket shuddered against her at the mention of the ginormous forest, and she moved her head to nibble on his mane comfortingly. Rekurth wouldn't leave his forest, and he wouldn't come here even if he did. All that was in the past now.

The blue stallion gradually pulled himself out of his memories as Kikka started to describe her old home. The familiar sights within his mind and Jola's body pressed against his calmed his racing heart until he could almost forget what had set it pounding. He fixed a smile on his face, trusting his pink companion to answer any questions for him as he attempted to seize a better hold on reality. "Our mountains were covered in pines." She had stopped grooming him and instead addressed the pair of twins with a grin. "Pines that tangled with each other on windy days, until it seemed their branches were tied up in permanent knots. We had no tablelands, only the slopes of the peaks to rest on and hope for level footing. In between the peaks, there were a few stretches of small land that the herds preferred to stop on. Or scoops in the mountains that looked like a giant had come through and gouged the rock away with its huge claws.

"Many of the peaks stretched above the clouds. Most herds feared to venture above the cloud layer, due to horror stories and myths passed down for generations. Jusket's father, Ulrur, had ventured above but never came back down." He stopped her, pressing his muzzle against her neck at the mention of his father's name. The blue stallion still grieved. Jola flashed an apologetic smile at the twins and murmured reassuringly to him until the shorter horse pulled away and shook out his mane.

He spoke, voice heavy with sorrow, "they feared me because I took my herd above the clouds, and came back down unscathed. They thought I had made a deal with the dead through my father." Never mind the fact Kezia had called him the chosen one, or that they hadn't been able to find his father's corpse. They would always believe his trips above the clouds were aided by some sort of black magic. He shook his head again. "Oh, but it was beautiful above the clouds. It was like our own secret hideaway, where all you could see were white wisps and the tops of mountains. Sometimes you could spot the sky through the second layer of clouds."

He fell silent, but a smile covered his face. He stared at nothing behind the pair of twins. Jola grinned and added, "You could never see the sky in those mountains. The clouds up there were thick and constant, not even changing when the snow thinned, and the peaks were clumped so close together it was impossible to see out over the land unless you were on the fickle edge of the range. Some yearlings would venture to the hills below just to see the sky." Jusket nodded to her words. His eye focused back on the twins and his smile broke into a grin, almost like his rush of emotions had never happened. If he detached the names from the faces, he could speak and think about them without drowning in his past.

"I'd like to see your mountains sometime. They sound much more... manageable than ours," he chuckled softly. "Have you thought of settling down? Jola and I explored a few places before we reached these islands, but I cannot fathom spending my entire life examining every nook and cranny in the land. Do you ever tire of it?" He pulled away from his pink companion, not enough to keep their bodies from touching, but enough so he wasn't resting so much of his weight against her. His left hind hoof cocked as he relaxed back into the conversation.