the closer she gets, dark eyes glancing up as inconspicuously as possible, the more she feels certain she has met him before. the scent that permeates the air around him tells her that the figure is indeed a stallion but it is not familiar… certainly not one of the lagoon stallions nor anyone who has graced the peak lately… when she is finally close enough, having shuffled some distance across the meadow just to get a better look, she casts a more overt glance, her boldly convex head silhouetted in starlight. his size is not forgettable and now that he is so close her eyes widen as she remembers exactly where they had first met. the falls… quite some time ago…she also recalls the strange thumping sensation deep in her chest at the attention he had seemed intent on giving her. with a brisk huff she quickly drops her head back to the grass, snatching away fervently. now that they were so close it would be almost rude to leave abruptly, without acknowledging him… but the way he had looked at her then….how many hours had she spent wishing kune would look at her with that same intensity? Božena suddenly feels a nervous twisting sensation in her gut…. and it worsens when she happens to look up, her chocolate eyes wide with concern. he is coming straight for her. the directness of his steps gives her little time to ponder her course of action. her head jerks up reflexively from the meadow floor, forcing the small bite of grass she had been pretending to eat down with a hard swallow. she feels her body stiffen, long muscles tightening in uncomfortable coils and despite her mind fighting for control she takes a step back without realizing it. seeing him reminds her of those early days on the islands… sick with loneliness and homesickness… she had been so hopeful that someone would come for her.. from the vlast… from her rodina… no one had come. except eventually kunzak… and for some reason it feels wrong to think of him and the perlino in the same sphere… as if they cannot both exist in her world at once. irritation and tension, two familiar sensations as of late, pass over her quickly as she finds herself totally unprepared with how to greet him… a quiet huff leaves her nostrils as she forces out a breath of air. when her name spills from his lips her dark eyes rise to meet his and she is pleased to find she has regained some control of her body. one gracefully curved ear twists forward from its uncertain perch, fixed on him, while the other flickers back and forth. she is not the same mare she had been then… freshly alone and barely able to speak the common language of this place… her voice is tentative but clear. kendry? where he had stated her name with certainty she offered his questioningly…though she knew she wasn’t mistaken. |