Falls

There, hidden in a thicket far enough from the falls that they were only a whisper on the wind, stirred a soft-hearted creature, sleepily murmuring words that had served to fill her with hope each time she heard them spoken by her mother.

“Once upon a time...”

How did the story go again? Ravena always found this bit tricky. After all, she hadn’t been around for it.

There was a lost princess (this was her mama), and an evil dragon that had chased her. She ran so far, and ended up in a place that she’d known. But her family wasn’t there. And so, she’d bravely journeyed back into the dragon’s lair, because there was a secret place she knew she could hide, and that the king and queen would come and save her. But she didn’t have to wait alone. A lonely knight found her, and not long after, the princess was blessed with a child warm and soft as the sunlight at dawn. (This was Ravena.)

“Mama, are you awake?” The bay dun filly, splashed white, wiggled in expectation, but was met only with the steady breathing of her mother in slumber. “Mama,” Ravena whispered again. Silence and peace. Turning to peek her head out of the small and dry, sandy cave that was the only home Ravena had ever known. Her mother told such good stories. It would make her so happy to hear a story about the sun-at-dawn child. (Sometimes her mama was so sad, and Ravena still didn’t understand why.)

There was no familiar figure lurking outside, which immediately put a damper on the filly’s spirits. It was hard to tell a story with only one character, after all. If there would be no lonely knight in her story, she’d just have to find someone else. (Ravena thought that the dawn-sun child would have lots of friends.) Silently she promised not to go too far, because for all she admired the princess’s bravery, Ravena was still so small, and hadn’t yet found that which made her brave.

As it turned out, Ravena didn’t have to go far at all, in order to find what might the beginning of a most beautiful story. Better than a story - an adventure! (And something real, not just make-believe.) After cautiously creeping her way down a path that wound through the trees, leading her first this way and that. Ravena happened upon another filly. She’d never met a stranger before. Aside from her mother, there was her mother’s guardian, stoic and silent, but he was no stranger to her, because he’d always been there.

Ravena wasn’t scared though. After all, she was excited to finally meet someone closer to her own age and size. And there was no denying, the way she stood basked by the deep golden light of the sinking sun, she looked so much like the protective stallion who watched over them, and inspired the lonely knight in her mama’s stories. And beyond this filly, the towering mountain that filled Ravena with awe every time she glimpsed it through the trees.

“It’s so... what’s the word? Makes-my-heart-happy, ah - beautiful!” She couldn’t help but exclaim, rambling to herself a little, even as she found herself squinting and wincing at the brightness. Coming up alongside the filly, the bay roan overo reached to brush her muzzle against her new companion’s shoulder, the way her mother always reached for her. “Do you think if you stood at the very top of the giant rock, you’d be able to walk among the white shadows in the sky?” A warm smile spread across her slender muzzle, and her soft green eyes creased in happiness. “My mama calls me Ravena.”