Reef avoids the wave almost subconsciously, operating on an instinct refined by a lifelong exposure to the unpredictable rhythms of the ocean as she jerks her nose up and away from the water which seeks to suffuse her. Her companion does not fare so well: as he turns to respond to her question, the wave swamps him, prompting a bout of coughing and sputtering as he strives to clear his airways. Drowning, she knows, is a threat even when one's head is above water. It is a hard lesson learned, and best taught early. Children never realize how delicate they are.
The roan mare turns so that her hindquarters act as a bulwark against the waves. The salty spray wets her back as she observes the twisted branch on the shoreline, noting the sandpipers as they travel further down the beach while she gives Jay Azuli time to collect himself. Her near ear points toward him, and when he speaks she angles her head to eye him with interest, always appreciative of a life story.
His, though, hurts. Summed up in only a few sentences (and Reef prays there's not more beyond that to tell, for his sake), he describes a life burdened by tragedy from the start. To be abandoned by one's mother is unthinkable. Reef has to work to try and understand such a decision, but it makes no sense to her despite the various scenarios she runs through her head. Sickness, she thinks, Or involuntarily— hoping it must have been because of something outside the realm of the mother's control. She does not like to believe anyone could be so deliberately cruel.
Her heart breaks for the colt he was, but she resists the urge to reach out and brush her lips across his damp shoulder. He's grown now and likely in no need of her sympathy. And, while most stallions his age would either group together or pursue the life of a band stallion, Reef is well aware that "most" does not mean "all." Here she stands, shoulder deep in the sea, quite content with her life of wandering outside the confines of a herd.
"What have you discovered, in your wandering?" she asks, and because such an open-ended question can leave one fumbling for words, she refines it with a smile and adds, "Tell me about the last time your heart really raced." |