PERSEPHONE

The night was cool, the warmth of a beautiful spring day yielding easily to the soft, evening breeze. There was moisture in the air, that left a faint, comforting heaviness in the air. There would be dew on the grass come morning. The Forest was quiet, which should have been peaceful.

Since the war, however, silence had unsettled Persephone like it never had before.

Sabran was almost a yearling now, and though Persephone considered her a fairly clingy child, she had taken to spending more and more time away from her mother’s side. This evening she was off playing with some of the Forest’s other foals, leaving her mother to wander alone in an attempt to walk off her anxiety.

Each day, Persephone was able to stand the silence a little longer, but it would be some time before she could enjoy the peace of her home without fear again.

The feeling of the child moving in her belly, familiar and yet alien all at once, was some comfort at least. Whenever she felt a particularly strong kick, she couldn’t help but smile to herself. Her second pregnancy was much less anxiety-inducing than the first. The war was over, if not forgotten, and it had turned out not to be a disaster bringing Sabran into the world – Shamwari had even turned out to be as good a choice of father as she could have hoped.

Her first child might have been born of panic, but this one would be born of hope.

As she paced, Persephone found herself drawn to a familiar scent. She found Evren, bathed in the twilight, in one of the clearings within the trees’ borders. She often sought out her friend for companionship, but since the end of the war they had not had so much time for their deeper conversations.

“Evren,” she greeted simply, approaching her and reaching out to brush her muzzle against the other mare’s cheek.

As she pulled her head back, she offered a warm smile, and for a moment let her gaze wander to her friend’s similarly swollen barrel. Their foals would come around the same time, most likely. Persephone hoped for more sisters for Sabran and Arkana. Then her dark eyes sought Evren’s.

These times when they talked together, alone, had a strange energy to them at times. Moments passed between them that excited and frightened Persephone in equal measures.

“How are you doing?”

all of your demons will wither away

mixed, bay varnish roan, 14.3hh