Spring had come at last. Tinuvel still faced a few days of snow, but it was nothing compared to the frigidity that was winter. Mariael and her family were safe to move from the small clearing around the hot springs they occupied deep in their mountains. Snow was rooted around in and little strands of grass that had been buried were nibbled on to stave off the hunger pains that came with the worst of winter lacking food. A bit of greenery was starting to blossom now from shrub bushes to some of the trees which had previously lost their leaves, and it was beginning to dot an otherwise pale landscape with splashes of deep, rich earthy colors.
Mariael left her herd in the safety of her queensguard and made the trek through her land and toward the Inlet border. It was important to see how her neighbor had fared his first winter in Tinuvel since his return. He was lucky enough to understand what to expect, she thought, and she had hopes he had also flourished in his herd numbers as she had. If Mariael arrived at the Inlet to find it sparse of company and all but him standing there, she might be worried at his expertise of being a decent leader.
Luckily, this was hardly the case at all. As Mariael drew nearer to the Inlet she could smell the thick, heady scent of horses. Mares. It appeared her neighbor had been successful in building up his herd and she had to assume he’d been as smart as she, only picking those who would actually survive and thrive on one of the harsher islands to live.
Though they were allied and agreed to lead Tinuvel together, Mariael still paused respectfully at the border between the Bay and the Inlet. Her blue eyes narrowed in concentration as she tried to pick out the distant horse shapes to see if she caught any familiar faces. The herd was too far away for her to make out for certain if she knew any of them, but she dismissed the notion without much heartache. Those who left Tinuvel often did for a reason, what that reason was, Mariael couldn’t know for certain – she herself loathed to spend any time away from Tinuvel. The six months she had spent on the Mainlands in her youth were disregarded as if they’d never happened at all. She’d intended to visit other islands now that the weather was fairer, but was holding back and instead considering sending Zevulun in her place. He hungered for the experience of exploration… why should she deny him of it?
Mariael, with her head held high, stood proud on The Bay’s side of the terrain. Orkaan would see her soon, she knew, and she looked forward to seeing how the Tinuvel stallion had lasted this winter.
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