It becomes clear that there is an elephant in the room that the two of them continue to skirt around. Vita Nova assumed as much - she knew there were only so many things she could say before the conversation would likely return to Warsaw. But the Inlet mare wanted so desperately for this first reunion of sorts to go smoothly. Everywhere she went on Luthien she walked on egg shells. Maybe not with Shamwari, but certainly with his family, with Jabari, and now here. Thinking it was one thing but living it was a different experience. It was yet another wave of the blowback she was sure she would continue to deal with. But Vita Nova knew it was deserved, on some level. She was the one who abandoned her family and chose the side of an enemy, after all. Vita Nova swallowed hard against a suddenly dry throat as the weight of this sunk in yet again. She quickly dropped her head to the creek's bank and gulped some more.
By the time she's done drinking, Evren is filling the air between them. She is awkward and tense in the way she describes her history with Shamwari, but Vita Nova is happy for the distraction, and for the heat to be off her for a few minutes. The sooty mare licks her wet, whiskered lips and watches Evren as she speaks. Her ears flick forward and back when Evren mentions Persephone, and a wry grin finds a way to her lips. It all sounded... very much like her half-brother. "Thats great." She chimes in, her words genuine even if the tone didn't quite match. "It sounds like the way of life he always envisioned."
"And I'm happy for you too, of course." She adds. "You seem happy. Content. Though I always assumed you'd go back to the Desert one day."
Vita Nova flicks her steely tail over her haunches when her friend asks about her own children. She winces, ever so slightly, at the mention of Nyah's name. Guilt washes over her, flushing warmth into her cheeks. Oh how she wished she knew where her daughter was now. "Yes, yes... Too many." She says next with a long smile. "There's my daughters Tavas and Brunhild, and then the twin boys Letavice and Ironclad - Warsaw's heirs."
"The last time you saw me, I was... quite unwell. That was from my last labor with Brunhild. I told Warsaw that she would be my last." She said. She breathes a long sigh then, her blue-eyed gaze dropping to the ground between their hooves before finding Evren again. "I know it must be ... difficult for you, to ask about Warsaw, or my life with him. You don't have to wear a fake smile with me." She blurted out, but it felt good to finally address. "I made a choice a long time ago and I don't regret it. I don't pretend that he hasn't done unspeakable things, because he has. But I made that choice, and he is the father of my children."
Mare | Evaline x Valentine | Smoky Back Splash | 15 hh | © Vinyl |
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