much has changed since the last time she pulled herself from the swirling waters of salem’s edge. that failed pilgrimage still echoed in her thoughts when she let it… hope no longer welled in her heart. nothing did. she kept it cold and empty. the memory of walking back into the desert, one shifting hoof in the sand after another, and the hot breath of wind that she swore held the scent of her blood, her family, only to find nothing. no one. emptiness…. it had crippled her. what use had she for those emotions? the abandonment she felt was finally shut away….locked so tightly and stowed so that she no longer felt wounded by it.
the bay strode easily across the sand, she cared not who it belonged to. things like that never lasted..what mattered more was that she belonged to it. this time she did not raise her maw to the wind, testing the hot air for the faded memory of her parents scent. it had been so long she wouldn’t know it anyway. she didn’t care to find them any more. she remembered this place and that was enough. she was tired of drifting. tired of searching, of wandering… the desert had been her home once and if she so desired it would be again.
it was clear this land was not empty as it had been last time….with her keen dark eyes she makes out the forms of other horses further inland, vague shapes against a vast landscape of sand. she relishes the way the evening sun scorches across her back, hot and angry. the sand dances around her hooves as she walks, welcoming her in its own way. her ears, now a traitorous reminder of the mother she has no ties to, curve to meet each other atop her head. she feels powerful here, and though she tries to deny her blood, she knows it rejoices to be home. it sings in her veins. she picks up a jaunty trot, headed to the oasis she knows lies at the heart of this land. her thirst is strong after the swim and she is curious to know if after all this time she can still find her way though she was just a foal when she left.
she tries to skirt around the mismatched group she spies in the distance…there will come a time of course when she will have to make herself known but she sees no need currently. curiosity pricks her though when, through the dusky twilight, she sees a dark shape moving away from the others. she doesn’t adjust her course but pauses for a moment, noticing how the figure seems to hesitate before parading off in the direction she intends. it would be dark by the timed they encountered one another likely. hopefully the stranger was only interested in a drink of the cool water that lay ahead.