I am the razor in the hands of your heart;
And I am the razor in the hands of God.
The loneliness was agonizing.
But still, the thin golden mare stood, waiting at the shoreline each day, her eyes peeled in search of one thing. Every so often her heart would rise into her throat when she thought she'd spy the familiar dark frame of the mare she loved among the choppy seas. But as the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, Evaline wasn't fooled so frequently. Immediate loneliness turned to panic which eventually gave way to depression. At first it was easy for the mare to fill her worried mind with excuses. She must have gotten held up at the Crossing Isle. Or sometimes, an important, dire matter came up, but she'll be home as soon as she's saved the day for someone else. While Evaline was used to Valve's wanderings, heck, it came with the job, the black mare had never been away from Salem this long. She could feel it deep in her gut that something was wrong.
Evaline was hesitant to share her concerns with the few other inhabitants in the Dunes. They were fairly new to the community Valve had built with Evaline at her side and naturally, the palomino mare didn't trust them. Instinct, however, made sure she was never too far away from them or at least, not for long. And during the relentless heat of summer, she begrudgingly made sure to guide them to the shade and reprieve of the oasis, as she would with any one of her incessant, ungrateful children. Evaline had hoped to keep up the ruse that "everything was fine" for as long as possible, both with Valve's herd and her allies. The tumultuous activity as of late in the neighboring Desert gave her some pause. She lied to her own son, Shamwari, about Valve's absence to keep up appearances of a united front. But she knew time would eventually unravel her lies, if Valve didn't return soon.
The mare wasn't sure how much heartbreak she could take anymore at this age. It was the black mare who helped Evaline put the pieces of her own shattered life back together after her ordeal in the Lagoon. It was Valve who encouraged her to live for herself, not for her thankless children strewn across the islands. She was hard and stony and bitter as ever, but on the verge of falling a part yet again. This time, Evaline knew if she teetered to close to the edge, there would be nothing left to claw herself back to. She was too old. If she fell a part again, and without Valve, she would die.
Evaline breathed a heavy sigh as she watched the last colorful rays of the blazing sun dip beyond the horizon. She closed her eyes for a long moment, feeling the cool sea breeze against her face and through the wavering locks of her blonde mane. As always, Evaline held her breathe after the heaving exhale for a moment before turning neatly on her haunches to head back to where she saw the rest of the herd, just steps away from the oasis. She'd quietly scale dune after dune, taking her time to reach them, as the temperatures plummeted and the purple sky darkened, only the sparkling Desert stars overhead to guide her way.
17 | Arabian cross |14.2 | Palomino | Mother of Kasabian, Shamwari, Vita Nova, Paradiso, Ruxin & Talya | Vinyl |