Vita Nova opened the door for this. She invited Evren in, poking her even, to finally say how she really felt. And still, the color drains from the sooty mare's face as her painted friend fires back with sharp criticism of her life choices. The Tinuvel mare instinctively stiffens. The muscles under her spotted hide bunch, and she shifts her weight back and forth across her four legs. Her jaws clench, and she stares down her nose at her taller, leaner friend.
She listens as Evren shares some details of her life, darker moments that connect the dots of where she'd gone after Koray and Orhan's deaths, and what brought her back to the islands. Vita Nova is confused by this, but overwhelmed with emotion for her. She grit her teeth and listened to her friend's long explanation.
Vita Nova breathes a deep sigh once Evren has had her say, flicking her steely tail over her haunches as she attempts to ready herself to respond. "I didn't come here to apologize, Evren, nor am I asking for your forgiveness." She said flatly. "You're right, love is complicated. You've seen one side to Warsaw - you've seen him only ever as your enemy."
Her grey nostrils flare again, and her blue-eyed gaze flits briefly to the trees all around them. "I'm not asking you for anything. I'm not asking you to change your mind. I would never do that, knowing what he's done and the impact he's had on your life." She pauses for a moment to catch her breath. "I'm just saying, what you think you know isn't the whole story, either."
When Warsaw came for her, battling Shamwari among the golden reeds of the Prairie, Vita Nova didn't realize her life was about to change forever. She didn't know that from that day forward, Luthien would no longer be her home. She couldn't predict the bloodshed that would come later - for all of them. But even if she had, she wouldn't have made a different decision. She loved Warsaw, flaws and all. Her life had been more difficult than she ever imagined, but those hardships began in the Desert, not in the Inlet. She had a family now, children she'd always dreamed of. Warsaw kept his promises to keep her and them safe. This was the life she chose.
"The war is over." Vita Nova said next, her expression softening. "I'm hoping we can all move forward from here."
Mare | Evaline x Valentine | Smoky Back Splash | 15 hh | © Vinyl |
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