She lets out the breath she hasn’t realized she had sucked in and held. It is all so unusual for her, thinking about foals, settling down, dredging up her past. She is grateful though now, having aired these uncomfortable feelings out with shamwari. He was the only one she had ever come back to, the only one brave enough to ask the tough questions and so far the only one to open the lock she had put on her life and toss the key in front of her. He was right. The past was in the past and she was the only one now who could decide her future. Having the confidence he respected her decisions soothed her mind and to know that seemed to care as much as she did about her freedom made her fondness for him that much stronger.

She smiles at him, feeling a tenderness she hadn’t before, but before she can speak, the voice of her new friend quells the intimate direction of the conversation. Her sharp blue eyes pry away from him and land on vita nova, having a new awareness for the roundness of her form. That could be her some day, waiting on motherhood. But what kind of life could that child expect? What kind of mother could she be? And she thinks now with a new curiousity, what kind of father would shamwari be to their child? She has to toss these distracting thoughts aside. With an almost visible shake of her head she brings herself back to reality. For now it is enough for her to stay, to enjoy her new friendship and to strive to help shamwari heal. It is a lesson he has helped her learn, the past needs left to be past and the future will come when at its own pace. Her own voice is small and clear when she speaks again.

I am so glad we will stay a while together vita nova,and happy you have lead me back to the best home I have known.

she smiles at shamwari, reaching out to graze her small tawny muzzle across his shoulder before making small steps to the side of her friend.