The steely spotted mare watched as the sun began to rise on the horizon, casting the vast ocean before her in brilliant pink and orange hues. She sighed deeply as the bright, boiling mass made its slow ascent into the sky, plumes of rich carbon dioxide evaporating from her whiskered nostrils with every exhale. Winter was here on the island of Tinuvel, and Vita Nova couldn't be more miserable.
She was obese - the sides of her barrel were swollen and painful. Vita Nova was nearing the end of her third pregnancy, but she'd never experienced one quite like this. Her legs were constantly swollen, sore from the warm fluid that gathered there and puffed out, if she stood in one position for too long. Nor had she ever felt this "big" before. She'd birthed two fillies from relatively impressive statured stallions. Fallo was nearly three times her size, as a draft-bred brute. So she had no idea what to expect from this bizarre and unnerving pregnancy. She only knew that Warsaw would expect her to deliver -seriously - especially if she wanted to keep a stronghold on her lead mare title. Silently, the mare hoped for colt.
With the morning glow came a brief reprieve from the island's frigid temperatures. She basked in the rays as they illuminated and warmed her spotted coat. But still she stood, along the pebble beach of the shoreline of the Inlet, her striking blue eyes transfixed on the dark, choppy waves. Even in the Desert, where she so often felt abandoned and depressed, the sea brought her clarity and peace. The trend seemed to continue here on Tinuvel.
Tensions lately between her family and Warsaw had kept her on edge. As a way to blow off steam, the mare regularly made trips to the Bay to visit her daughter. She longed for the filly's companionship, even if Tavas was nearly grown now, and part of a new herd. The more she visited, the less Tavas seemed interested in keeping in touch with her mother. This realization was painful of course, but for multiple reasons. It made Vita Nova think about all the times she cast her own mother aside, even when Evaline was reaching out to help. It's funny, she thought with a short snort, how life was seemingly so cyclical.
In an effort not to further annoy her daughter, Vita Nova contemplated bracing the icy waters for a short jaunt to the common isle instead today. It was hardly her favorite place to visit - not after she spent many months there, basically homeless - but she hadn't left the Inlet since she first arrived, and she knew it wouldn't be smart to go home to the Prairie at this time. The common island wasn't very far, either. So the sooty-colored mare gave a quick look back into the trees to make sure Warsaw wasn't looking, and slipped into the surf.
The swim was easier than anticipated, and the physical exertion actually made her feel better. She rose from the waters on the common isle feeling fresh and rejuvenated. Vita Nova ambled through the meadow, pleasantly surprised to see other horses about. For a second, the mare felt self-conscious about her heavily pregnant body. But she urged on, grazing on dried chutes when she found them, until a loudly colored stallion came into view in the distance. A grey ear lobe flicked back as she questioned whether or not the mares in the gaggle behind her was talking about her. She snorted in irritation and defiantly strode up to the stallion, wobbling somewhat as her weight swayed from side to side.
"Humor me for a second." She called out to him with a whinny as she approached. She arched her neck curiously to offer an exchange of breath. She smelled no lick of the islands on this stranger. "Those gossipy witches back there are oogling you." She said with a sly smirk. "And how shocked they'll be if you entertain an invitation to chat with me."
Mare | Evaline x Valentine | Smoky Back Splash | 15 hh | © Vinyl |
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