Meadow

In the brief silence and the company of softly crashing waves, the dark mare felt the heavy draw of sleep. It had been weeks since last she truly slept peacefully. With no trusted company to help her protect her son, Daire was on the alert, but exhaustion would only her allow her to remain awake for so long. Even in the quiet, dark of the night, she makes out the dark-colored form of another approaching. She only realizes that they are male upon speaking.

"Are you two okay?"

He stretches his maw close to her to allow them to greet formally. It'd been a long time since Daire had seen this formality. Despite her hesitation, her own dark maw reaches to his, hovering briefly before retracting. "It was a long, hard journey," the mare said regretfully. Had she known what the last few weeks were going to be like.. even that was a blip in her mind. There had been no choice but to make this trek. There had been no way to climb the cliffs, no way to find food or fresh water.

"As a native to these Isles, I know where there is an abundance of grass and water to quench your hunger and your thirst." She hated to think it, but, had the mare been at full strength and healthy, she might have rebuffed him, but she was quite weak, hungry, and exhausted. Here, someone was offering help, and her trust issues were clouding her mind. She had to at least trust this stallion enough to find sustenance, if nothing else then for little Lir. Daire nods her head gently. "We would appreciate any help you might offer.."

It is at this moment that more movement catches her attention. For a brief second, she assumes it was only a trick or an ambush, but it is the form of a youngster that approaches them. A young filly, presumably around Lir's own age, approached slowly, long blades of grass trapped within her maw. Daire watches the little one quietly as she lowers her head in submission and places the grass before Daire. "Um, hi. I thought maybe you needed something to eat."

The mare's brown eyes flicker toward the stallion, wondering if perhaps this was his own child trailing along after him. Before she sees any sort of reaction from him, the drizzled female offers a gentle smile to the filly in gratitude. "Thank you, little one. That was very thoughtful of you." Before responding further, the mare reaches to nible or blade or two of the grass, ignoring her stomach's own call to eat every bite. She warmly nuzzles Lir into waking up, and he does stir slowly, only eager to sleep until he sees the grass before them.

The yearling boy pays little mind to any sand or other small particles that make their way into his mouth as he hastily snatched up the grass. It is only once he looks up in a groggy happiness, still munching on the grass, that he sees the other two figures. It gives him only slight pause until he notices that one of them is a foal. It is all he can do not to floop back into sleep, but he desprately wants to play and enjoy the company of someone his own age. That had been hard enough back home since foals were far and few between.

Daire turns her own gaze back to the pair, tiredly offering a smile. "My name is Daire, and this is my son, Lir. I am grateful for help from the both of you." She nods privately to the filly. What a selfless little one; it warmed her heart. Her gaze shifts to the dark stallion gratefully, but warily. "Now that Lir is awake, I'm happy to follow your lead to water and more grasses, but.." Her head lowered slightly to speak to the filly. "Where are your parents, sweetheart? Won't they be missing you?"





Words: 659
Tags: Bjorn and Ivanna
Notes: Daire (age 12) is arriving here with her year and a half old son Lir. She is newly pregnant, but doesn't know it quite yet.

Speech is with the tag <.span> & <./span> without the periods.