Quiet did the mare stand, in the land of uncertainty. For each heartbeat that sounded rhythmically in her chest, she could almost image it to be hoof beats. Though it had been more than one season now, the pony mare longed for the lost son that had not returned to her side. By now the mother could only think of the worst to have befallen her only child. That he had succumbed to the jungle in some terrible fashion, by beast or land. It is such thoughts that plague her now, causing her heart to race faster within her chest while somehow managing to squeeze so tightly she thought it could not make another beat.


“My poor child….” She murmured to herself, her words riddled with grief she had been holding back. Even now, despite the time that had drifted by so incredibly slow, she could not help but mourn. Unable to help it, plagued by such disastrous thoughts, the mare felt the dampness of tears begin to slide down her face from her clouded eyes. But such as a small piece of snow turns into an avalanche, so does Veles’ grief. Her quiet grief turns into uncontrolled sobs, unable to hold back the sound any longer, but also thinking no one would hear. She is not ready to face anyone else with what has happened, to admit her failings. Not when others had been so gracious to let her exist her in such an abundant place. They would be in every right to remove her, and at this point, Veles held no desire to resist.


Typically, Veles would hear another calling out as the stranger had been doing, but the pony mare was too wrapped into her own thoughts to truly notice anything surrounding her. It is only when he intrudes upon her, his scent suddenly swamping her and his voice filling her ears that she is snapped out of the spirally black hole that had been swallowing her. Though her sobs are turned silent in his presence, there is still a hitch to her breath as she turns her head towards him and pushes her ears forward.


“I-Iscariot?” she managed to stutter out. “I’m s-sorry to have burdened you.” The mare quickly apologizes, dropping her head as her ears flatten out to the sides and her clouded eyes cast to the ground. Veles had thought no one could hear her, and as with everything else, she had been proved wrong. Had she managed to slip out of Paradise once again? The blind mare didn’t know, nor could she place where she was at the moment. Maybe he was just hear to show her out so that her noises did not bother his herd anymore, and he was just trying to be kind about it.