Meadow

The painted stallion remains silent as Viveka begs for him to not return her to the Badlands. She watches the flicker of emotions, even though they are fleeting, rage to quiet neutrality. Viveka didn't know if Rafe would ever physically harm her, or Eigyr, but he certainly didn't abstain from hurting her emotionally, crushing any hope she'd had for him. Viveka had kept to herself mostly in the Badlands, her only other brief interactions being with Vela and Dill. Dill was too scare of Rafe and Vela despised him, having fought for her desperate freedom more than once. Viveka knew purely from her witnessing Vela and Rafe together, that Rafe would not let Viveka flee. Even now, hours after she'd made that desperate swim, she had the creeping sense he was looking for her.

Viveka doesn't say much else as she encourages Eigyr to take precarious steps beside her. Her muscles protest in response, not having liked the motion of her hips after birth. Viveka pauses briefly so the little red filly can nurse, feeling hollow as such. She'd spent all this time carrying Eigyr and now she felt empty. It was ironic to feel such a way considering how emotionally detached the silver mare had been from the pregnancy. Her ears flick to the splashed stallion as he finally conveys his name. Romulus. She relishes in his patience with her, his lack of judgement. She had not expected to be found in the Meadow, but he had arrived nonetheless. He admits that he is in between homes with his family. Viveka wonders if he is as lost as she is. The Badlands never felt like home. She had felt so isolated, so lost, that she thought maybe home was solely with Rafe. A disaster that had turned into.

Viveka remembers a time when she needed no one but herself and the dark mare wonders when that changed. What had become so broken in her that she forgot who she was. Before she can steal herself, "I don't know what a home is anymore," the words tumble out. For they are true deep in her bones. v i v e k a mare | silver black | swedish warmblood | 4 | moonless