The young always thought themselves invulnerable, as if denial could hold the truth of their mortality at bay.
As she followed closely behind the dark figure of the slender mare, Rivaini reflected on what she had learned over the course of just a few days. The silver bay now understood that she was not as strong as she had always believed herself to be - that in her own way, she was as fragile as her brother Iscariot. They had completed one another so well - and for so long - that she had never before taken notice of where her strength ended and his began. In her eyes, it was always she who had watched over the perlino stallion, she who had taken care of him and sought to guard him from the worst of life’s cruelties. But she’d been blind to the ways that her brother had cared for her. How Iscariot’s more quiet, unassuming courage had lent both the strength to endure in the midst of suffering that would have broken her. How his stoic nature had provided a stabilizing force to her tumultuous emotions.
And she knew that she needed Iscariot as much as he needed her - perhaps even more.
For that reason, Rivaini could not help but to remain on guard against Faolain, even though she had struggled to set aside her misgivings back in the meadow. As puzzling as her motivations had been, it was the question that the ‘Teke hadn’t answered that concerned the red mare the most. And even if Iscariot was nothing to the black creature, what was she to him? Rivaini was concerned about the possibility that her brother might choose to walk his own path - if not today, then certainly in the future. Her eyes had been opened and as much as she might scrunch them closed and attempt to deny the truth, it could not be willed away. Because Iscariot was a stallion, and someday he would want more than the companionship his sister could offer. Someday, he would give his heart to another. And what place could Rivaini hope to hold in his world then?
Of course, the moment Rivaini saw her brother’s pale figure curled up on the sands, all of this was forgotten - cast into the winds like the glad little cry that parted her lips. The bay mare flew across the sands as if she had sprouted wings, her muzzle stretching out to touch his face, his shoulder, his flanks as if to reassure herself that he was truly there, that he was real and whole. And then she was laughing and somehow sobbing at the same time, while Iscariot lurched desperately upright, his pale eyes puzzled but soft with both emotion and concern when he reached for her. ”Shh, ‘Vaini, I’m here, I’m fine.” he breathed into the warm skin of her cheek.
But even as he was comforting his sibling, the perlino’s eyes could not help but to seek Faolain’s figure standing at a respectful distance. Of course the black mare had come through for him - he should never have doubted her. From the moment of their meeting, the creamy stallion had sensed something about her - had recognized the same undauntable spirit that Rivaini also possessed, the same empathy that he had always offered. It was that which had first drawn him to her and which had led him to place his trust in a stranger. Now he saw the ‘Teke not as a reflection of his sister’s courage or his own kindness, but as an individual that he could not help but to admire and care about. And regardless of what happened, he would never forget her - and thus came to understand that he could never truly lose her.
Faolain had made a mark on Iscariot’s life and in his heart in such a short time, and would be immortal there for as long as he lived.
ISCARIOT & RIVAINI
i can see your light |