Meadow

The trio spent their months on the Crossing like ghosts. Heard but not seen, always, at first, under cover of darkness, they drifted around the skinny bare trees softly trimming the edges of the Meadow. Fine-boned and wide-eyed, two flighty does and a glimmering young fawn, they leapt away at every sound and movement, the peripheral flash of Kore’s white-streaked tail in the blue moonlight the only sign they’d ever been there at all. At first she treated the chestnut mare and her filly gingerly, giving them as much space as they needed and then some, worried that any amount of pressure would send her careening away forever. It was Libera’s choice if she wanted to do so - Kore wouldn’t keep her, remembering all too well how life in a gilded cage had felt, but she couldn’t ignore the bonds forming between them any more than she could the changing of the seasons. Virgo ended up being the glue that held the two of them together, bridging the gap and bringing the bay in closer and closer until the awkwardness softened like putty into something more akin to friendship.

With closeness, though, comes the truth. Kore waits until Libera is ready, gently prodding first for her attacker’s appearance - and then, upon slowly learning it glittered like gold, like the sun itself, she knew she eventually had to get his name. She chewed on the scraps of information she got, biding her time until she couldn’t take it anymore, and when she finally got what she asked for, turned over the stone that hid the thing she sought so ardently, she wished she’d never looked for it in the first place.

Apollo. Icy shivers ran down her spine every time he came across her consciousness. No matter how long it had been since she’d last seen him. It was a lucky thing she stood watch over her charges most nights, her last gruesome images of him coursing through her waking mind so much that she knew they’d come, without fail, to haunt her in her sleep. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. She’d seen the terror in his eyes as he fell away from her, heard his screams drowning in the rumbling cacophony of sliding rock, felt the hot splatter of his blood on her legs and chest -

Kore gasps, jerking her head up. Something flicks lightly against her breast; panicked, she looks down, her fears first escalated by the flashes of intense crimson fluttering there, then dashed as her white-rimmed eyes adjust. Leaves. She sighs, both relieved and disappointed by the truth of it, and shakes them off before continuing on her path through the forest. Fall has settled upon them, the days already growing shorter, the nights colder… and the stallions more and more reckless, like stags in rut. Kore picks up her pace, nostrils flaring for the scents of her charges, and casts her gaze about for a glimpse of their willowy forms darting through the shadows around the trunks. She’s already spent too much time away from her charges, wandered too far south, slept too many nights alone, and she can’t go another second without knowing if they’re alright. She has to know - and soon.

Kore had made a promise to herself in spring, there with the then-frail Libera and newborn Virgo in the sun-dappled clearing, that she’d not let the horrors of the past season repeat themselves. So far, she’d managed to keep her promise; between avoiding Apollo - whatever version of him it was - and Maslakhat, and nursing the new mother and child back to health, the hot-blooded mare felt more confident than ever about her ability to protect her dear companions, as well as their ability to protect themselves… but it would be easier, she thinks as she strides through the trees towards ruby-red Libera, if she had some backup.

The scarred black Shire flits across her mind’s eye. Kore sweeps the semi-darkness beyond, her heart sinking when she finds no sign of him. Wherever you are, she thinks as she nickers to announce her approach, slowing to extend her muzzle in greeting, I hope you’re okay, Aidoneus… and that you haven’t forgotten me.

“Good afternoon, my friend,” she says warmly, pushing the far-flung stallion from her mind. Kore flares her nostrils, drinking in the other mare’s earthy-sweet scent.

“You smell like wind and sunshine,” she remarks, a slow smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “What’ve you gotten into today?” Her eyes lift from Libera’s kind face, scanning the horizon once more, this time for a small blur of peachy red and white. “Where’s Virgo?”

Later, perhaps, Kore could search for Aidoneus, answer the months-long question of his whereabouts… but for now, she’d focus on the love right in front of her, just as hard-won and deep as any other she’d found since washing ashore so many months ago.