Falls

she wished she was heartless enough to abandon the little pest. no doubt her life would be much less complicated, though admittedly also less interesting…. the thought had been prominent in her mind, having finally expelled the child… they both lay there in their respectively miserable heaps, mother and daughter feeling similarly exhausted and perturbed by the outcome of events. it would be simplest, to just get up and walk away. dredge lifts her head instead, turning to stare at the creature with a scowl. it is tidy and small, with one mismatched foreleg painted white.

the filly shuffles on the ground, helplessly waffling around with spindly legs that don’t seem to obey. her breath comes in frustrated angry huffs that causes dredge’s scowl to turn upward, slightly. the mare pulls herselt to her feet, walking several steps away, testing the invisible string between them. it is easy at first, to step away from the creature, to watch it flail helplessly and roll her eyes… but when it finds success, managing to orchestrate all four of its tiny hooves into a standing position, the dark mare stops and stares on curiously. as the filly takes a tentative step toward her and tumbles into a heap, dredge lets out a disgusted sigh as she feels her heart hitch in her throat. the invisible threat held taut without snapping after all.

they have an understanding, thankfully. dredge has kept the filly nourished and alive, and in return eviscera remains dutifully, albeit equally displeased at their mutual reliance, at her side. the one thing she is grateful for, is that her daughter’s presence keeps her thoughts from wandering too much into the dangerous territory of her thoughts. she is too busy keeping the ignorant child alive to worry about their circumstances…. to think about Him even… or to think about the other massive beast who had occupied space in her mind at the end of her pregnancy. Tyr…

as the pair make their way to the falls at a pace that annoys dredge to no end, the painted mare wonders where the giant had made off to…. somewhere he could be obnoxious and earn a fan-club no doubt… his refusal to shy away from her bad humor had been… confusing… to say the least. but she can’t say how she’d feel if she saw him again.

eviscera, despite her youth, saw through the scowls and the irritated snorting and rough bumps from her mother’s dark muzzle when she walked too slowly… the strange and distant way in which she was loved was how she preferred it anyway. she had seen the other pairs, foals so smothered by their dams they could hardly walk ten steps away without reprimand. she, on the other hand, could mostly do as she pleased and then some. it was a different sort of relative happiness that they shared, but both found it satisfactory.

dredge’s mismatched eyes glance around the falls without any real intention, mostly making sure eviscera’s wandering wouldn’t invite any danger or trouble. as they draw closer to the waters edge the mare gives the filly a gentle shove downstream, eager to have her space now that they had finished their little travel from the meadow. her lips meet the cool water, breaking the surface and drinking her fill… when she finally lifts her head, she watches as the small filly sets out determinedly to explore the tree lined creek bottom respectfully within seeing distance of her mother.