For the first time since the death of Nycol, Nyimara felt what might be the first syllables of something akin to comfort. For the first time since laying eyes upon the dark mare, the silver witch realizes just how tightly she had been holding her own breath for fear that it was a corpse or boney nag she might find beneath the tight reins and fierce hold of the lagoon mutts. A breath of relief shudders through her body as the space between them closes. There was a small part of her buried deep beneath the ice and stone that wanted to break now, shatter into the hard muscle and visible scars of the brown woman. She wanted to allow those tears to fall freely, and to pour out that heartbreak that she carried in this moment. She wanted to scream her curses into the brown woman’s skin but even with that despair, she knows the woman will not allow it. Would not suffer her weakness lightly. Just as she had forced the woman to rise when she came broken and battered to the Hills, Nyimara knew deep in her cold, hard soul that the battle-worn woman would expect the same even if it was empathy dancing in those dark eyes.

Bent ears catch the dry sound of Shenzi’s clutched voice, beneath the dark skin, she can feel the same rage that burned through her own body. Tension builds, muscles flexing and the stammering of her heartbeat raging against her breast. For a few moments, there is only silence from the fire of her heart. Only the sound of the marshland insects and distant crying birds break the stillness that has built up between them. And yet, even this moment cannot last forever, regardless of the comfort her soul found in it.

There was a part of her that wanted to feel the fury of Shenzi’s teeth against her own skin. A part of her that wanted to feel the woman’s jagged hooves biting into her skin and ripping hair and flesh alike. There was a part of her that needed action, that needed something to be done instead of drowning beneath the weight of her loss. Her body screamed for the release that she knew Shenzi could provide her, the release that would burn her and the islands to cinders and yet, the softness of her touch is the last thing that she expected. Her body grows rigid now as Shenzi draws her close in a fierce embrace, pressing her body firmly against her own as a reminder to her heart that it beats together as one with the battle scarred mare. For a moment, they remain pressed together, ignorant to the world around them. For a moment, they are together as one. Small, fluted ears perk forward amid the silver white tangle of her mane at the whispered sound of Shenzi’s graveled voice as it fluttered the fine hairs lining her ears. As she draws back from her, Nyimara lifts her gaze to meet the auburn eyes that stare back at her. She had not come here for sympathy. She had no need of empathy or guilt but instead she came in desperate search for her companion, for her soul. She tried to honor Shenzi’s request that day when she had come to the Lagoon in hopes of spiriting her away from the watchful eyes of the mongrels that called this place home. When she had left that day, with heartbreak and longing resting heavily on her soul, she had vowed to wait until the dark mare came to her on bended knee. She vowed that day that she would hide away her heart and turn the stone to ice once more and yet in the moments after the death of her child, it was Shenzi alone that she thought of. She broke the vows she had made to herself, hoping against hope, that she might find the woman ready to rise to her need. Her request had been one made out of hope, and yet in the moment that she met the dark woman’s gaze, she knows that there is a chance that Shenzi will once more choose to remain here with her son and the beasts that call the Lagoon their home but she cannot help but to ask.

There is no delay in the muscular woman that met her gaze now. There is no reserve or glance to her hooves in respite, this time, Shenzi does not falter or think twice when the question rises.. ’Yes.’ simple and music to the silver haired woman’s ears. Yes.

Just as the smile slides across Shenzi’s lips, so does the breath release from her own lungs and a sense of ease begin to settle over her own body. A malicious smile slides across her own ash dusted lips now as she reaches forward to brush her lips across Shenzi’s own in an action that might appear to an outsider as almost tender if it was not for the venom that burned beneath their dark eyes. Energized by the dark woman’s touch, Nyimara lifts her proud head, tilting her chin just enough to fix her companion with a steady glare. ”Salem calls to me.” she murmurs, her breath hot and fetid in the small space between them. ”Find me in Salem. I will reclaim what belongs to us.” she murmurs, taking a step back now as caution fills the dark woman’s eyes. Left and right she glances, the whites of her eyes gleaming in the bright sunshine. By instinct Nyimara finds herself tensing, prepared for whatever it was that Shenzi searched the shadows for. Fluted ears disappear beneath the thick curling mantle of her mane as the delicate woman turns to face her companion with lips pressed firm. She understood the risk she had taken in coming here. Even as Shenzi speaks, Nyimara knows the meaning behind her words and replies with a mere nod. ”Always.” she breathes, the word hanging heavily between them. Always their bond twisted and barbed as thorns on a rose bush would bind them together. She did not doubt Shenzi’s ability to free herself from the clutched of the feral men, nor did she doubt the dark woman’s ambitions. Together. Together the islands and all those who stood against them would tremble when their fury was unleashed.

But that fierceness was not without its lust. Hunger burned her throat raw as she stepped forward, pressing herself against Shenzi’s side like a cat curling about its master. Ash dusted jaws part as yellowing teeth scrape over the scared hip in passing. ”Together.” she breathes, one last time inhaling a deep breath of the dark mare’s familiar scent. They would be together at last once more and free. They would be free.

A hard snort escapes her lips as her finely dished head is given a shake, lithe limbs churning beneath her as she turns towards the border without daring to risk a backwards glance lest she lose her own nerve. Despite her need for Shenzi, it would do neither of them any good for her to become a captive of these mongrels as well. For now, she had her own hurdles to face and it began with securing a herd. An army. They would need an army to take on Faolain and her alliances, that much Rougaru told her she knew to be true. No doubt Solomon would jump to the Ridge woman’s aide and all of Tinuvel at his side including Bjorn, if he still roamed these parts. The thought of seeing the smokey blue stallion again caused her stomach to churn but that was another battle and one that she would wage with Shenzi at her side.

Together at last.