With Oswin isolated atop the Peak, no longer really caring exactly where her children went or how far, Filumena began to explore the world. Well, it wasn’t exactly the entire world, but it may as well have been to her. She did not swim the ocean channels, though some days on the beach she danced in and out of the shallows, splashing and enjoying the thrill at just the thought of seeing these vastly different territories she’d already learned so much about. She had seen them on clear days from the top of the Peak and it only heightened her curiosity.
But there was still so much of Crossing Isle to see, and it was there Filumena explored.
Most days her older brother Oswald was with her. Her thirst for exploration and boldness made him nervous, as did the way their mother never came down the Peak with them. Oswald was used to his mother traveling everywhere with him, introducing him to the world piece by piece, but she hadn’t done that with Filumena. Whatever was affecting their mother concerned him deeply, but Filumena was too eager to seize life to worry like he did.
“I’m going to stay with mother today,” he’d told her that morning when she nipped lightly at his thick neck, tugged his hair and tried to encourage him to take the path down with her. “You should stay here too,” he had suggested, “Or with someone else in the herd.”
“Fine,” she’d sighed, rolling her eyes and trotting away from him.
Filumena had intended to find one of the sister’s she liked and knew well and see what they were up to, but the pull of adventure was enough to take her down the path off the Peak and out into the rolling hills that surrounded the summit. Exhilarated, as soon as she hit flat land she began to run, her ginger tail flagged out behind her white freckled rump, laughter catching on the wind as she went racing down deer-trails and around trees, the world a blur passing her by.
The Falls were the first mingling area just on the edge of the Peak and it was near the shared border that Filumena finally pulled up her gait, her neck damp and dark with sweat and her sides heaving. Despite the exertion, she was still grinning and her tail lifted confidently off her haunches as she walked further toward the tumbling roar of the great big waterfalls.
Filumena’s amber-yellow eyes were bright, jumping around the immediate clearing as she walked carefully along the colt, wet bank of the river that flowed from the falls. Her hooves crunched along the pebbles and damp dirt, red legs stirring the faint fog that still hung low on the ground. Fall had interrupted summer’s warmth with a quick glee, and Filumena found herself looking at the various trees and admiring the myriad of changing colors now that she could see them individually instead of just as a blur she was running by.
Eventually she stopped near the great, wide pool the water’s fell into, and felt the heightened chill coming off the misted waters. At that same moment another horse walked into the little clearing and Filumena turned her attention to them, surprised and delighted to see a filly about her age. Filumena had her older brother to play with, but that had been about it. The idea of finding another playmate, especially a girl, was exciting.
“Oh,” the stranger said, looking at Filumena, who only just then realized she’d been quietly watching the gold and white girl since she walked in, “I didn’t see you there, or I wouldn’t have interrupted.”
“You didn’t interrupt me,” Filumena said quickly, worried if she didn’t the filly might make some excuse to leave and get out of there before she could find out more about her. The red dun roan filly offered a lopsided grin. “I just got here too.”
She tossed her forelock out of her face and fixed her eyes - bright with elation - on the other filly. “I’m Filumena, I live in the Peak. Do you… live in the Lagoon?” Her words trailed off doubtfully. She knew she and her brother had a few half-siblings and even a nephew or niece they’d never met (and may never meet), but couldn’t remember much about them. Still, despite that, she had thought there weren’t that many foals off in the Lagoon. Maybe she had come with her mother or father from one of the other islands? Filumena almost looked past or around her, but was too curious about the other girl to look away.
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