Was I left behind?
Tell me, tell me I survived.
My muscles still bunched under my sleek copper hide, but the exasperated breathing began to slow. No longer did my whiskered nostrils flair with effort to fill my burning lungs with the air they so craved. As such, I could feel myself beginning to come down from the adrenaline rush after battle. One by one, the members of our family began to trickle to the shore. I spied Verdi, nearly a yearling at this age, lingering behind a sand dune, clearly waiting for his older brother before approaching any further. A few mares too, lingered in the distance. Eventually Jabari returned with Vita Nova and Tavas not far behind. I studied Nova as he approached sheepishly, her face stricken with guilt or regret, maybe both. Like our mother, she'd never been good at hiding her feelings. And unlike Evaline, Vita Nova was a terrible liar.
The sides of my barrel rise and fall as I take in a deep breath, and release it in the form of a long sigh. It's not my intention to interrogate my sister in front of our family. Anyone could have just as much or more information about Warsaw than she. But there was a reason the Tinuvel stallion swam all the way here to fight a stallion he'd never met before in a terrain he'd never stepped foot in before, for a chance to get to her. The way the large grey stallion took off through the fields as a last ditch effort to find her still made my blood boil with anger. I needed answers if I hoped to prepare for what could possibly be coming next.
My eyes finally lift from Vita Nova and scan over the rest of the herd. I offer Petal a short nod of my head, and Sanibel a brief smile and nicker. Primrose isn't far behind her. And with the flick of my brown tail, I stepped forward to stand by my son's side before addressing the herd. "I don't have to tell you what just happened. I'm sure you heard the commotion." I said sternly, staring down my nose at them. "With Jabari's help, we were able to scare him off. But the question I have for you all is, what would drive Warsaw of the Inlet to our shores?" I asked stiffly.
Jabari began to shift his weight nervously over his four legs, and eyed me occasionally. But my son stood strongly next to me. "Any idea, Vita Nova? He seemed keen on finding you." I finally blurt, my wide brown eyes falling onto my sister again. A snort leaves my lips as an uncomfortable span of silence hangs in the air. "This is not an interrogation. But it is my job, and Jabari's job, to keep you all safe here. We've been lucky that the Prairie has been peaceful for long. If anyone has any information to share about Warsaw, what they know, or what they've seen, even just what you've heard, it could be helpful in making sure an attack like this doesn't reach our borders again."
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