Meadow

The realization that, without her mother, it was hard to tell if she was making the right choices made her both embarrassed and frustrated. She had always been so sure of herself, but without that comforting presence, she was suddenly aware of the sheer amount of situations she'd never found herself in - and even those familiar situations were new again, because now she was alone. There was a world of difference between a mother and daughter going to find shelter with a stallion and a single mare doing so. When she began to feel comfortable, she started to feel even more embarrassed. He was doing everything right to make her comfortable, and that made her feel suspicious, and then guilty for that suspicion. Vesna had not prepared herself for the whiplash of emotion, but she hadn't expected it either.

In any case, she was glad that she'd been able to lead the way. It had given her the opportunity to try to conceal her thoughts and emotions. Vesna was more concerned about looking embarrassed than she was feeling it.

They slowed, and she heard what she thought was a sigh from behind her. Her ear flickered, and she looked over her shoulder at Ailill with a curious tilt of her head. Was he missing something behind them? She looked beyond him, back at where they had come from, and her brows furrowed. The storm was still chasing them, and she felt herself quiver for a moment as the wind bit at them. "There'll be plenty of time to look back once we're there," she called back with a small, sympathetic grin. Maybe she'd been the one to interupt a memory that time.

Like him, she kept a small distance while she picked her own path forward. Still, she tried to show some comradery. When their paths grew near, she tried to converge them somewhat so that they could share the work. It was fast work, and busy work. Like Aillil, she wanted to admire the frozen pillars as well. She gazed up at them longingly, lost in thought again until his voice shattered the silence.

"Would have?" She asked quietly, but she quickly frowned at herself and interjected, "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked. Call it instinct, if you would." She bowed her head in apology, more than sheepish over her potential faux pas. "You're right, it'll be warmer there. Besides...There's something I'd like to see."

She began up the path then, slow and careful with her steps. She found herself glancing back at Aillil often, making sure he hadn't found himself struggling. The snow and ice made her heart pound against her chest, and she breathed out a loud sigh of relief when she had clambered up the path and slid behind the ice. She could feel the ice radiating cold and yet, when Vesna inhaled in the cave, she was surprised by the difference in the air. Behind the waterfall, it was just warm enough to catch her off guard. But that wasn't what she had wanted to see.

She turned around and gazed up at the frozen falls again. Her mouth opened into a broad grin of awe; from inside the cave, the ice was otherwordly. From behind, the ice filtered the outside light and with little to reflect from the shadowy cavern behind, it glistened in shades of near-black and crisp blue. "Beautiful, isn't it?" She almost whispered, and she wasn't sure if she was talking to herself, to Aillil or to somebody else completely. "How many others have seen it from this angle...in this lighting..." She quietened herself, and breathed out sharply. It seemed like such a simple thing to be in awe of, but how could she not be? "I wonder how the storm will look from here, or how it'll sound." She visibly shivered, and she shifted her weight across her hooves with a series of tiny steps. She was excited, but she felt strange admitting it to herself. Better to act cold, no?