Though they stood beside each other as comfortably as they had in their previous life, there were things that were different. During their separation, both Iscariot and Rivaini had grown - and as they attempted to settle back into old patterns, not all the edges matched up in the places that they once had. The way the perlino's gaze was drawn to the stranger, for example, and the way that his sister leaned into him as if for support or strength. Once the auburn mare had been the center of Iscariot's world. Once, he had relied upon her with nearly everything that he was.
And though the pale stallion certainly still wanted Rivaini's protection and companionship, he was not so certain that he needed it in the same way that he had. The behavior of his pale-maned sibling, on the other hand, told another story. Iscariot wasn't certain what had happened to her while they were apart, but Rivaini had softened somehow... no, fractured. There was a new fragility beneath the familiar brave front that she wore, and a strange desperation in the way she pressed herself to him. Moving when he moved, standing motionless when he was still - like Iscariot had become the center of her gravity and her world.
It was unnerving, this reversal of the roles they'd once played.
Only when the cream-colored stallion stepped forward to brush the soft pink skin of his muzzle against Faolain's did Rivaini allow their bodies to separate. He could feel her pain in the hitch of her breath against his flanks, could see it in the way her blue eyes fell briefly closed when he glanced back. It reminded him of the rejection he'd often felt in his youth - of watching mournfully while Rivaini raced and roughhoused with the other foals. Iscariot didn't quite understand the cause of her behavior, but attempted to communicate with a gentle bump of his hip and a soft whuff of air that she was not only welcome to join in the conversation, but wanted.
"Faolain." The stallion spoke after they parted, by way of greeting. For a moment he was silent, uncertain of what to say and overwhelmed by emotions he only half-understood. In the end, Iscariot decided to stick with the openness and honesty that had gotten them this far. "I know that it was your choice to help me - us - but you didn't have to. And... thank you." Beside him, he felt the bay figure of his sister step forward, and stood on in silence as his pale eyes flitted between the pair.
The greeting that Rivaini offered was more reserved, as if she were wary of the black-coated mare - though Iscariot couldn't imagine that Faolain had done her any wrong. Despite the tension that held the muscles of her body taught, the silver bay did allow her muzzle to briefly touch the other woman's, and a genuine smile warmed both expression and eyes. It was all so perplexing. "Faolain. I didn't even know your name until now, but I am grateful nevertheless. My brother is precious to me, if a bit of a pain." Rivaini softened her jesting words with a gentle tug on a wayward strand of his taupe mane, and the stallion rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner. Soft laughter chased this moment of silence, before the duo fell back into the depths of their own thoughts.
Iscariot broke first. "While you were gone, I wandered some and met a mare named Rhadra," he admitted with an abashed expression to Faolain. After all, she had told him to remain here, a command that he had willfully ignored. "And we talked about many things, but mostly of home. Not the ones that we were born to and left behind, but those that we will soon choose. And, well..." The stallion's voice lost both volume and strength as he struggled to speak the next words, wondering what form his Faolain's rejection would take. "It may sound strange, but I want you to be a part of that home too, Faolain. I know we have much to learn about one another, but I just have this feeling that the three of us belong together."
Rivaini said nothing, but the wariness was absent from her eyes as she watched the other mare. Wondering how she would react, after what had been spoken in the meadow. It was clear that her brother felt some sort of attachment to the mare - but as far as the silver bay had seen and heard, it was not necessarily a reciprocated bond. And though Rivaini wanted nothing more than Iscariot's happiness, she would step in if she felt it was needed to ensure that Faolain did not feel the need to sacrafice her freedom of choice for the sake of her sibling's feelings.
ISCARIOT & RIVAINI
i can see your light |