Meadow

If any doubts lingered in Sabriel’s heart, the spotted stallion’s words banished them like shadows bathed in the sun’s light. Bondurant’s confession was both a soothing balm and a bitter regret - if only because it confirmed that precious time they might’ve shared with one another had been wasted. And if there was any threat that could hope to wrest them apart, it was time. The black mare still had much to learn about her companion, but she knew from his words - and his demeanour - that he was not young. And no matter how much time the Fates saw fit to grant them, there could be no forever for them. Flinching and curling deeper into the stallion’s embrace at the vision that danced through her thoughts, Sabriel felt the same aching emptiness that she’d felt when her son had arrived lifeless into this world.

All too soon, there would come a day when Bondurant would die, and she would be alone with her grief again.

No, not alone, her mind whispered against the relentless agony in her heart. After today, she could at least carry the hope that a piece of him might live on. Surely they had both earned as much from a world that had turned its back on them both. Surely they were owed as much happiness as any life could hope to contain, after the suffering they had endured to find one another. And no matter what else might happen, nothing could take this away from them - or the changes that each had wrought in the other. Bondurant had already begun to remold the clay of her being, softening the hard planes of her character into more gentle curves that could bend without breaking. And he… she liked to believe that she was the source of the newfound fire that flickered in his emerald gaze, and lent strength to the vows he spoke.

“I’ll always want you,” she responded solemnly - four words that were as much a promise as they were a warning. Sabriel knew that her age might give her companion cause to doubt the depth of her commitment, just as the old (often rightfully) doubted the resolve of the young. But in this, the brindle woman was more certain than she had ever been before. “If I’d known that you existed, Bondurant, I would have searched for you long ago. And if I’d been less of a fool, I would have never turned my back on you.” The curve of her lip trembled briefly, but the dark mare stilled it with an effort of will, striving to think only ahead and not behind. Even if she could not help but to think of Solomon, and to wonder whether he had found a path that led him beyond his own grief, too. And Sabriel surprised herself by hoping that he had. That he was happy, again, back in his Cove.

“-but you are right, of course. For as long as we’re together, we should treasure every moment that is given to us.” Her muzzle brushed his gently, and the puff of her warm breath briefly caressed his skin. Around them, the world was growing steadily darker, and the shadows of evening lengthening. It was difficult to grasp that only a handful of hours had passed from their reunion until this moment. So much had changed that it felt more like a lifetime. And yet, Bondurant consumed so much of her awareness that it was also easy to believe that only seconds had passed since her body had first collided with his.

If not for the weariness that had begun to settle into her bones, she might have stretched this time out longer still.

“Will you sleep with me again, Bondurant?” Sabriel asked, battling the weightiness of her eyelids. “As much of a shame as it will be to end this day, I couldn’t imagine a better way. Besides,” she added with a wry smile. “I like to believe that the first night we shared together is where this truly began. And so tonight, let us begin again - with one difference.” Blue eyes found green, and held them with an intensity of emotion swimming in their depths.

“This time, when the sun rises, we’ll face the new day together.”