 She had tried raging at him. She had tried sneaking out in the middle of the night (or what counted for night in this place). Both attempts had been futile; Orkaan had only met her anger with his own and refused to listen to her, and he had completely thwarted her escape attempt.
Evren had a plan, though. The stallion might have been huge and muscular and slightly intimidating, but she was nothing if not resourceful. Over the next few days she planned to observe him, make note of any physical quirks or limitations she could use against him - she already had his size in mind - and then she would challenge him in combat. This time it would not be like the day she arrived, when she had been exhausted and scared and too mentally disorganized to be any real threat.
She would win, or die trying.
She had been away from home for too long, and she despised this place. It was too cold, too dark, too windy, and the grass tasted strange. Her long winter coat - the first she’d ever had in her life - was itchy and made her feel huge. Even her fascination with the first snows had been short-lived, and now she could no longer stand the way it impeded her movement and clung to her whiskers.
She had spent her days lurking on the outside of the herd, making sure she was in sight so that Orkaan would not come looking for her, but never approaching anyone. She had come to recognize two petite little mares - one roan, one colored like Orkaan - and had watched with interest the day a third, pale and dainty mare arrived. What was most intriguing to her was that none of the mares seemed to despise Orkaan. The black-and-white mare did not display friendliness to him as the others did, but neither did she constantly challenge him as Evren did.
Evren was curious about who they were and how they had come here, but still she was determined to avoid them at all costs. There was no point in getting to know the locals when she had no intention of being here for much longer.
Then came the day a familiar horse arrived on the island. Evren almost didn’t recognize her at first, given their dark, alien surroundings and the fact the mare was obviously pregnant. When she realized it was Vita Nova, a wave of hope rushed through Evren. At last, someone had come to rescue her! At least, that was her assumption. She realized that was not the case when she observed Nova interacting with Orkaan and the other mares. Then Nova’s body language told her everything - Orkaan had taken Nova, just as he had taken her.
Evren remembered Orkaan’s words and shuddered: I came across someone from your herd a few span back. Vita Nova? She seemed absolutely miserable.
Hatred hardened Evren’s gut, and she almost rushed out into the middle of the herd to meet Nova right there. But she held back, lingering half out-of-sight, and did not make her move until the next morning.
It was still dark, as it would be for some time (Evren had come to find that daylight was more or less nonexistent here in the winter), and the herd was asleep, Nova included. Evren located her and crunched her way through the snow as quietly as she could manage. Her heart began to race with excitement as she neared her. “Nova?” she whispered loudly, and cast a careful glance around their surroundings to make certain no one else had heard her.
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