We were drawn to whoever could keep us together
And bound by the heavens above
He had never thought he’d be seeing these islands again, at least, not so soon. Seeing them rising out of the very ocean in the distance, growing bigger as he approached, Alessandro felt joy and sorrow warring within him; returning to his birthplace was a bittersweet journey. After all, he had only just begun to feel settled among his mother’s herd, in the land of her birth – a vast desert called Kumaii. It seemed he had been the only one to be happy there, though, so maybe it was for the best they were returning. He only wished his mother was coming with them.
At least he wasn’t alone. Judicaël had kept close to him ever since they’d entered the sea, and had proven to be a great source of encouragement for Alessandro, who had floundered and struggled against the pull of the currents. And Tigerlily, his youngest sibling, she had proven to be a great distraction, in a strange kind of way. Even though she was behind him and to the left, Alessandro could feel the storminess coming off her in waves. Of the three, she had been the least eager to return to the Lost Islands, though she had only vocalised her displeasure after her mother had left.
Though she was still growing, Tigerlily was as large as life, and one of her biggest issues was with the stallion who had set their journey in motion. Dances With Wolves wasn’t any good, Tigerlily claimed. He had caused their mother a lot of grief, and though Sai had forgiven him, Tigerlily found it a little harder to forget the things she hadn’t been around to witness. Alessandro suspected that Tigerliliy was disappointed in the older male. When he’d first found them on the mainland, the yearling filly had quickly grown to love him as her father. But, for some unknown reason, Dances had kept her at arms-length, and his relationship with the youngest of them was the most distant. He hadn’t stepped up when Tigerlily had needed him most, and now, upon returning after months away, it’s like he had realised. But it was too little, and much too late, and where his departure had filled them all with sadness, his return had only turned Tigerlily’s sorrow to resentment.
It seemed the closer they got, the louder her grumblings became, so that Alessandro was forced to block her out, because his hind legs were tired and stiff, and it took all of his will to keep going. He had forgotten how long the swim was – it hadn’t been so difficult last time, even though he’d been smaller then. His legs weren’t so good, and the cold water definitely wasn’t helping.
Snorting water out of his nose (the tender skin tingling at the touch of brine) he turned awkwardly towards Judicaël, who had sense his distress and had closed the small distance between them. The bump of his brother’s muzzle against his shoulder calmed his racing heart, but only for a few moments; Tigerlily was no longer speaking.
“Where -” Alessandro gasped. It was an effort just to lift his head higher, and his energy was nearly spent. “Where is she?” And then he heard her voice, calling his name. ‘I’m okay, I’m okay, keep going!’ He tried to turn to catch sight of her, but Judicaël was pushing him forward. “Leave me Jude, go help Lily!” But his brother refused to leave his side, just kept pushing him onwards. An island loomed over them now, and Alessandro floundered, torn between turning back for Tigerlily himself, and heading for the shore. He and Judicaël both knew he couldn’t take much more, and in the end, exhaustion drove him to the shore.
By the time Alessandro dragged himself ashore, legs trembling and chest heaving, Judicaël stood beside him in the surf, scanning the white-capped waves behind them, shivering in the cold air coming off the sea. “Go!” Alessandro rasped, but his brother just shook his head. “I won’t leave you, Dro. The wolves that roam this island would have you, or drive you back into the sea. Either way, you are in no condition to defend yourself, or flee danger.” The younger stallion’s voice was strained, dripping with worry, but he remained steadfast and stubborn, even though he felt panic rising in his throat when he saw no sign of his little sister’s pale head bobbing in the waves. He paced in the shallows for several moments before churning up sand and heading half-way up the beach, letting loose a call for any others that called the Bay home.
As soon as someone came, someone who seemed to pose no immediate threat to his fatigued brother, Judicaël would plunge back into the sea and search for their beloved sister. For now, though, he hovered near Alessandro’s side, and when he managed to catch his breath and heave himself to his hooves, the two of them slowly made their way away from the water, coming to a halt where the dry sand had started to give way beneath their hooves.
A L E S S A N D R O
And we tried to survive traveling at the speed of love
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