Three.
Three; the number of times her mother had officially moved her since her birth. Three times she had been shuffled from one place to the next. Three times she thought she could put down roots, only to have them ripped from her. Her life had been running, or at least, that is how it felt with her mother. She remembered being born in a place that felt like home with her mother and her father. But the Varnish filly could feel those distant memories fading as she had begun to enter adulthood. The warmth and fuzziness them had now waned.
She hadn’t expected to see her father again. Her mother hadn’t spoken about him much since he had left them in the Peak. When he approached them in the Falls, she had never seen a man so broken. Her mother had been so angry, the fury bubbling over. Seri had felt nothing but hurt and confusion by seeing Fearghas again. Why had he come now after so long? “What does it matter?” she huffed angrily to herself. He was gone again. Her mother chased him away and she didn’t know who she was more upset with; Aallotar or Fearghas.
In that moment Seri bolted. Her mother had called after her but there was nothing she could do. The filly’s lengthening stride carried her as far away as she could hope. Aallotar couldn’t leave little Fortis so she had let her leave. Seri didn’t know where she was running but they had spent most of their days in the Commons as of late so she could only imagine that she was now in the Meadow. The Commons tended to fill up this time of year—mating season. Seri was only beginning to bridge the gap into adulthood. Her ears flicked nervously as she spotted many others she didn’t recognize. She practically chanted to herself over and over again that everything would be ok. But she wasn’t ok.