The white speckled mare visibly startles when a stallion of flesh and blood appears beside her, gentle in his concern. He looks so much like the ghost that haunts her but even in her fog of pain and grief, she knows that this one is different. He is real, he sees her, and despite not knowing her, seeks to soothe the anguish that floods her. His tender caress, and the quiet wisdom of his words calmedthe heart beating within her breast, and for the first time in all her life, her wild and wondering soul no longer felt unsteady. Sister, he called her, as though he wanted to know that, even if it was just here and just now, she was not alone. And it mattered, so much more than she could ever say.
Because that kind of knowing? It was the beginning of Belonging.
Without hesitation or complaint, Lysandra allows the silver-haired stallion to guide her away, pausing only once to cringe in pain at a sudden cramping of her stomach, leaning on him until it had passed. When they had settled on the banks, the bay mare took a moment to gather herself, blinking her eyes that were dark-and-bright all at once with emotion. Then she turns her focus to the vanner, and all else falls away from her – the rushing of the water behind them, and the whispering in her ears that made her heart ache with longing for a bond that would forever be denied her.
The sight of this stranger filled her with such wonder, and she clung to it, finding beauty in the celestial speckles that adorned him, and such kindness in his eyes. There was an understanding tranquillity to his presence, the likes of which Lysandra had never felt in the company of another. She sensed in him a kindred spirit of a kind, and so, when she closed her eyes and tilted her face away from him briefly, it was not with embarrassment for her scrutiny of him, but a sigh of contentment at the settling of her spirit.
"Brother, you speak the truth ," she said softly, turning back to him with the gentlest smile upon her lips. "It is not guilt, but the water itself that ails me. I still carry its sour taste upon my tongue, though I seem to have shaken its strange hold on my senses." With care, she reached to touch her muzzle to his, brushing a strand of his damp forelock aside, even this glittered from the misty spray of the falls like tiny stars. "Did you come to me from the stars? Surely you must have, to so graciously pull me from the depths of despair in my moment of weakness." She drew back, the smile upon her lips gone for the sincerity of her demeanour, only to burn bright in her eyes. "With all my heart – with all I am, I thank you."