Weeks had passed, and Vita Nova still hobbled weakly around the Inlet. The ashen mare stayed mostly in the same small area - close to a bubbling creek and in a small clearing in the lower lying area of woods. There she grazed on whatever harsh foliage she could find, but the mare hardly had an appetite these days. She felt downright awful - headaches clouded her vision and made her feel nauseous and lightheaded. She never trusted her footing, as she had seemingly lost all coordination. Her abdomen was still heavily distended in the aftermath of her pregnancy, but she was loosing weight fast. Her flanks sunk in and her hips jutted out from her sides. Besides the long swoop of her low belly, her ribs were clearly visible. She'd lost all topline muscling from her back through her slender neck.
The Queen of the Inlet had survived a terribly dangerous labor, and luckily so did her filly, but the aftereffects on her body were still ravaging her health.
Vita Nova forced herself to graze, despite her general apathy to eat. Brunhild needed the nourishment, and so did her flailing body, if she hoped to get past this one day. So she grazed by herself, her tired blue eyes searching the trees and the brush around her upon occasion for her daughter. When the filly was out of sight, Vita Nova attempted to whinny for her, but her former shrill tone was merely a breathy, gurgling moan these days.
Warsaw was busy with his war, which was now imminent. When it became clear that Vita Nova wasn't going to perish during labor, his interests seemingly shifted. The grey stallion had fought another to claim a new mare. He was swimming back and forth from Atlantis often. His preparations had begun, and it felt like his interest in rekindling any love for his family was hardly on the forefront of his mind anymore. In her weaker moments, the sooty-colored mare wondered if she ever truly was of great importance to him. Perhaps that sheepish apology he offered her - when she still had power over him - was merely groveling with the intent to get back everything he had truly wanted: control. Control over the Inlet, control over Tinuvel, and not just control over her and her body - but her entire family on Luthien.
She couldn't stop thinking about Shamwari and Persephone - and all the friends and extended family who were now in Warsaw's war path.
Mare | Evaline x Valentine | Smoky Back Splash | 15 hh | © Vinyl |
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