PERSEPHONE

Winter was upon them, here on Luthien. Slowly, Persephone could feel the cold creeping in. Some mornings, when she woke, the ground was hard with frost which melted in the early morning sun. Soon, she expected, it would cease to melt all day long – perhaps there would even be snow soon.

It was her first winter here, and she looked forward to seeing it.

There was a certain quietness to the air at this time. One by one, the animals seemed to be slowly hiding themselves away as the cold crept onwards, or those that could took to the skies and began to fly south where they did not have to brave the chill. Today, however, that silence was disturbed.

Persephone was beginning to get used to the strangers that often wandered by or even into her home. Their visits always set her somewhat on edge, wary of a visitor who might have bad intentions – of that Asp returning, even – but so long as she was able to quell those fears the visits were often interesting, and sometimes even fruitful.

And so, she made her way briskly towards the sound of hoofbeats in the distance which had drawn her attention that morning. As she drew closer, she caught the scents on the breeze which told her there was more than one visitor. By the time she reached them, however, she was pleasantly surprised to find that someone else had beaten her to it.

“Aurora,” she greeted warmly, offering the golden girl a small smile and bob of her head as she emerged from the foliage around them.

Then she turned her gaze onto the strangers. Her dark eyes studied them carefully, intrigued to see that the two dun horses appeared to be almost identical, aside from one being a mare and the other a stallion. She supposed that they had to be related, if not twins.

“And who is this?” she asked simply, glancing between the pair and Aurora.

all of your demons will wither away

mixed, bay varnish roan, 14.3hh