Meadow

Jusket smiled fondly at Kikka's fascination. He couldn’t imagine her being anything like the mare Trell had described earlier, but he supposed every pair acted differently when they were on their own. He knew he and Jola bickered a lot more in private than they did in front of other horses. "Yes," he said warmly, "exactly like that. And on the nights when it snowed up there, it was like being in our own little world. Sometimes it felt like time stopped." He grinned easily, shifting gently against Jola. She snorted softly but didn’t pull away.

She did, however, pin her ears to her skull at Trell’s tone. He made her spine prickle and her gut clench. She tuned out Kikka’s apologies, and instead focused on the bay stallion’s apparent fixation with something aside from the two horses he approached. Jusket nosed at her mane and she snorted heavily, turning her attention back to Kikka. Her ears flipped forward as her blue stallion chuckled lightly and spoke. “I suppose I can see the sense in that. And we thank you for the advice.”

“Zevulun?” Jola asked, to confirm she heard right. “I’m not sure where Tinuvel is, but we will keep in his name close. Thank you.” Thoughts whirred eagerly in her head, and she glanced at Jusket with a slight smirk. Maybe she could convince him to settle down with a herd for the winter. And if they could find this Bay, and Zevulun, he would possibly be excited to stay and meet Kikka’s friend. Trell’s sudden question caught her off guard.

Jusket glanced worriedly at his companion as her eyes swung to focus on Trell. “Ah, well, that’s quite a long story,” he found himself hastily spewing. “One for another time, I’d say. We—”

“We don’t want to bore you with such a personal story,” Jola broke in icily. She was much taller than Trell, and used the advantage to tuck her chin in slightly, exaggerating how far down she had to stare at him. The question itself wasn’t too aggressive, but his unexpected shift in his attention upset her. Jusket trembled against her. She broke eye contact with Trell and turned back to Kikka, taking a step forward to almost shield Jusket from the bay stallion. “Kikka, I hope we meet again.”

Jusket gaped comically as Jola, without another word, shoved him to move away from the pair of bay horses. He finally found his footing and followed her as she strode across the meadow, but attempted to glance apologetically back at the twins.