Meadow

The air was crisp, but not as cold as the dead night air that had surrounded Celestine in the pool beneath the Falls. Dawn was on its way, and the snow had stopped, leaving only a thin frost to coat the trees and the grass beneath. Celestine had left the Falls hours ago, and had spent the time between that strange interaction and the present grooming herself dry. She was not uncomfortable in the cold, even when she was sopping wet, but her thick winter coat did get quite heavy with the water. Not to mention her mane and tail, though there was little she could do to dry those off — she would just have to wait for daylight, and let them dry out in the sun.

Well, she thought, scrubbing the last bit of dampness out of her flanks, this was as good as it was going to get. She enjoyed the feeling of being fresh out of a bath, and the bite of the air seemed to just hit different on a coat that was clean and fluffed up. It also helped to dispel some of the uneasiness from her… odd conversation with the two stallions at the Falls.

She still didn’t understand what that was about, and at this point, she had no reason to stick around anyway, so Celestine had wandered away.

Now, in the shadows of the trees far out of reach of the Falls mists, Celestine began to look for somewhere to settle down for a nap. She had arrived on the island in the middle of the night, and still had not slept, but she was not about to do so within many miles of the little scarred stallion to whom she had first spoken. Luckily, this place did not seem overly dense of population, and soon she found a pleasant little meadow enclosed by brambles, a perfect place for a nap.

Except that it was not empty.

At the far edge of the clearing, a great shadow of a stallion grazed by himself. Celestine’s tired eyes narrowed, but this one looked nothing like the jackal from earlier — this one was sleek, handsome, with skin unmarred by old wounds that she could see. She had very little frame of reference for what constituted as normal in this place, but just from the calm alertness in this stranger’s body language rather than snarling, snapping jaws, Celestine decided he was a better use of her time. It wasn’t like napping alone was really all that safe, anyway.

“Waiting for someone to leap out and bite you?” she asked, striding toward him. He was tall, even more so than herself, which was rare. She halted a few steps away, her icy gaze looking him over with cool interest.