“This is who we are. This is what we've got. No, it's not our paradise…
But it's all we want.”
It had been too long.
These islands had some kind of hold on her, and she had tried so hard to break free of it. They had found each other on the mainland. She and her twin sister. Her sons, and the son her sister had abandoned. They would always be family, but there were some things that could never be forgotten, and the bond they’d once believed to be unbreakable would never be the same.
Sinopa had slunk off into the night, after coming to the realisation that Tolinka would return to the Lost Islands. She had known long before Tolinka had. The red mare went alone, and Shiriki – the one she had abandoned her own son to protect, he didn’t even stir. Alone, the fox headed off, into the unknown. Tolinka had woken, to find her three boys already awake and waiting. Nothing was said between them but they all felt the absence of Sinopa. The black and white mare just looked at the three stallions, and they looked back at her, waiting. When she turned to the sea, they followed her lead without hesitation.
Only Nahuel turned back, but he saw nothing. When he’d been a colt, his mother had always stood on his blindside. She had claimed it was to protect him, but Nahuel had always felt differently. He looked back for his mother with his unseeing eye. The ones that truly mattered to him… They were all ahead of him, and they turned back now, for him.
“Come, brother,” Shiriki called, and his voice was as familiar to Nahuel as the sound of his own beating heart (and even more beautiful). “Home is waiting for us,” Kuruk rumbled, having circled around to be beside Nahuel. He just nodded, and together, they made their way through the sea. Tolinka checked on her boys frequently, and it pleased her that they were all together, and holding up well. As they came ashore upon Atlantis, she took a moment with each of them, touching them tenderly, and silently thanking each one for making the journey with her.
It was Shiriki who stood, looking to the distant mountain range that could be seen in the distance, over the tops of the jungle trees. “We can make it to the Ridge by nightfall,” he called to the others. The three males started moving, but Tolinka stopped them with a single word. “No.” The word was soft, but carried a weight, and the three turned to look at her, confused. They all knew what the Ridge meant to her. To all of them. “This is Home now,” she explained, gesturing towards the tangle of life that lay before them in more shades of green than could be counted. “Life goes on. I lost sight of that for a time. But I refuse to be bound to my past any longer. You three, you are still with me, and you are all that matter. They call this place Paradise, and it is ours now.” And the wolf-mare looked each of them in the eye, though her gaze lingered longest on Nahuel. “You are my sons, and you will always be welcomed here, no matter where your hearts may lead you.”
They stood together for some time, before Shiriki broke away to explore the jungle noises that he could make out over the sound of the waves – as free-spirited and restless as ever. Kuruk wandered down the beach, alert and watchful, on the defensive already. Nahuel stood beside Tolinka, and rested his muzzle at the base of her neck, stray strands of her mane tickling his nostrils. Tolinka had always been a creature of few words, and that remained unchanged, but a peace settled over her as she leaned into Nahuel’s side. While he wasn’t her son by blood, by heart, she loved him as dearly as those who she’d carried in her belly. They stood, united, and for the first time in a long time, she felt settled, and already the ever-present ache in her chest seemed so much less than it had once been.
“And it's all that we're fighting for.”
T O L I N K A
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