Meadow

As soon as he approached, Seze coiled in on herself, defensive and dour. With pale red-gold ears turning back, she regarded him suspiciously, before shaking her head, strands of her tangled mane settling either side of her face. “N-No, I’m not running from an… úlfur, or bera,” she retorted with spirit, pretending she understood the strange words she stumbled over. “I’m not running from anything!” It was a deep and dark untruth, but this stranger didn’t need to know that, nor did Seze want him realising how vulnerable he felt. Even as he sought to come to her aide, instinctively the young amber mare felt herself pushing him away, rejecting the kindness he showed, because in reality, it was only another kind of danger.

Her mother had taught her this (in more ways than one): if Seze opened her heart to anyone, it meant that she could get hurt.

She felt that there was no-one she could trust. Especially not a young stallion with seemingly good intentions. Seze was smart in this way; she would learn from her mother’s mistakes as well as her own. Tan Jala had been overshadowed by Banshee in every way, and still he had broken her. Seze wouldn’t give this stranger a chance, but even as she towered over him, her jade eyes cold and flat, neither would she underestimate him. “I’m not scared of anything,” the mare claimed brazenly. But, if just for this moment, it was true - the only things she was truly afraid of were far from her (hidden in the valleys shadowed by the Peak, and lurking high on the cliffs of the Cove), and they would not find her here.

And in answer to the second question posed to her, Seze’s reply was unduly sharp. “I’ll chase you if you don’t leave me alone,” she snorted and glared down her white-patched muzzle at him. After a moment she backed up and turned away, but after several paces, she stopped and threw her head over her shoulder to watch him closely. It irritated her that he appeared to be lingering, but at the same time, now that her initial objection to his presence had cooled off a little, deep down inside she felt ashamed for how she had reacted to him. But she couldn’t afford any cracks to show now, otherwise his opinion of her would be coloured for no reason. “Well?” she shrilled. “What are you waiting for? I told you to leave.”