It’s not often Evren thinks of her past, or the horses that had once been near and dear to her. Whether back in the Desert or far away on the continent, those memories are still sharp and painful after so many years, not because they are all unpleasant - there are plenty of good memories to be found, if she digs deep - but because the trauma and heartbreak from those periods of her life has tainted them forever.
For this reason, Evren rarely thinks of Vita Nova, despite the mare having once been one of her closest friends and confidants. There had been a brief period of time prior to the war where thoughts of her had resurfaced after Evren had discovered that Vita Nova had not only lain with the enemy, but had become his trusted queen. From that day on, Evren’s opinion on Vita Nova had been tarnished, and after failing to secure an audience with her during the trip with Shamwari to Tinuvel, Evren had pushed all thoughts of the mare from her mind once more, in order to focus all her attention on the looming threat to the Forest.
Then war broke out, and in the midst of the chaos Evren had spotted Vita Nova, moonlight bouncing off the sharp angles of her frighteningly thin body. Later, Evren had learned of her role in bringing the war to a halt, and occasionally, when Evren was doing her rounds of the border, she would spy her old friend over in Shamwari’s territory, leading Evren to wonder if Vita Nova had finally left Warsaw and returned to her homeland for good. But before Evren could find the courage to cross the border and have a long-overdue catchup with her, Vita Nova was gone.
Other things have occupied Evren’s mind since then: the loss and disappearance of several members of the herd, the birth of her second daughter, the arrival of a new herd stallion on the island, and her budding relationship with Persephone. There has been little room for her to wonder about the goings-on outside of Luthien, but finally, on a cool day in Autumn, it seems she no longer needs to wonder about one thing in particular.
Evren is patrolling along the edge of the forest, her hooves moving easily over the worn trails she’s followed a hundred times, when she spies the distant form of a horse emerging from the sea. Peering through the overcast gloom, she swallows the instinctual surge of anxiety that accompanies the appearance of any stranger these days and approaches the horse at a casual lope, her hooves kicking up clods of wet sand.
Her step falters, however, when the smoke-and-cream horse registers as someone she knows.
Russet eyes wide with shock and heart threatening to leap from her chest, Evren continues her approach with a high whinny of greeting. Vita Nova seems much healthier than the last time Evren had seen her, the sharp contours of her body softened and rounded with fat and muscle. “Vita?” Evren says in a breathless exhale as she reaches her old friend, eyes roaming her for any hint of whether this visit is friendly, diplomatic, or otherwise. “What are you doing here?”
11; mutt; bay tobiano; 15.3hh |
