you shouldn’t walk where the hemlock grows
Faolain’s restlessness at Siobhan’s taking had been only temporarily sated with her return. Not longer after had been Çiçek’s news of her plans to leave, and once again the Ridge herds were looking dangerously scarce. The inky black ‘Teke paced the mountain side for a few days, lost in thought, before making the decision to return to the Crossing. They needed new members.
Though she had hope, so far her time here had been fruitless. She had lost her battle with Cullen over the unhappy pair of Lagoon captives, and after limping back home she had been reluctant to try again. But she had to, or at least she felt she did; so she set off for a second time, arriving on the shores of the huge central isle with cautious, guarded hope.
She shakes the water from the silk curtain of her mane, clouds of droplets thrown out around her. The Crossing is uncharacteristically barren, and none of the scents she can detect are new. She circles the semi-familiar area before picking up a brisk trot and moving on, covering ground beneath her in long strides toward the Meadow, where she might have more luck.
Faolain is not sure if she should call it luck, but at least the Meadow is not empty when she trots into the sunny open area. Her eyes immediately fall on a yearling colt - she had heard him running before she got here - racing about by himself in the open space. Her plans of recruitment temporarily forgotten, she halts and offers a friendly whistle in his direction. He looks much too young to be whisked away to a new home, but perhaps he knows someone who might want a change of scenery.
”Hello,” she says quietly, hoping he’s settled enough to hear her. Her nostrils flare gently as she picks up the crisp scent of Tinuvel from him, even from this distance. It reminds her of Solomon, and of Çiçek who made the swim with her unborn daughter to be with him, and her heart flutters with bittersweet emotion that she quickly hushes away. ”Are you visiting this area as well?”
mare | black | 14hh | akhal-teke
FAOLAIN
guardian of the Ridge