Briefly the closeness shared between Arsinoe and the newly arrived colt – her half-brother Raegar, Filumena soon learned – made her lament for Oswald’s absence. If only he hadn’t have chosen to stay tucked away atop the Peak with their mother, he could have met this pair from Salem too. Of course, Oswald would likely have wanted to get their mother involved in the matter or Roi or any one of the Peak mares who he always seemed to entrust in matters he felt were beyond his jurisdiction. That, Filumena thought, was quite stupid. She knew they would only complicate matters and she did know exactly how to swim to Luthien, even if she hadn’t done it before.
She blinked briefly as Raegar looked at her and seemed to invite her closer to the pair and, though she was somewhat chilled (her winter coat may have grown in thicker than these two had, but it didn’t make her immune) she found herself faltering. Filumena wasn’t used to attention from the opposite sex, especially given most (if not all) of her experience was her brother. She wanted to stop her hoof, flick out her red tail and blow a snort of air at him, but Arsinoe’s excited words pulled her attention back to the filly.
“Yeah, of course!” She answered with quick, easy confidence, pushing out her chest a little. “There’s a little beach on the northern part of Crossing that has some rocks and trees that’ll make a good wind-breaker to rest in before swimming to Luthien. It’s pretty much out of the way, so no one patrolling the Peak borders should come by before you’re ready to head to Luthien.” Filumena talked as though she’d done this before, but this was definitely her first time hiding and helping island runaways. She and Oswald had played on that beach a couple times, but it was difficult for him to get to (narrow, rocky, winding paths down through the hills) so they didn’t go often. Given the slender, smaller figures of the two in front of her, Filumena felt they’d have no trouble at all.
Raegar announced that he did not want to go to Luthien, but his attention was quickly Filumena’s. If we go to Luthien with you, will you come see the Badlands with us after? The word yes was immediately on her tongue but, for once, Filumena hesitated. Something told her it wasn’t a good idea, that if she was going to go all the way to Salem she should at least tell her mother or Oswald, or even bring Oswald along with her. She knew he feared swimming in the ocean, but she also knew he was curious about their sister, too. Filumena looked between Raegar and Arsinoe and pushed aside that inkling worry that this wasn’t a good idea. What could go wrong? They would travel together, keep one another safe. They could find Arsinoe’s brother on Luthien and then go back to the Badlands where Filumena could finally see Salem and finally meet her oldest sister. There was absolutely nothing to worry about.
“Yeah!” She said, then smiled, “I would really like to come to the Badlands with you guys. It’d be nice to finally get to meet my sister.”
Worried if she waited around longer someone would come to ruin their fun or that nagging feeling that something wasn’t right would come back and take over, Filumena pulled her dark-striped legs back and jerked her head back behind her. “We can go find that beach I was talking about. The sooner you guys can rest, the sooner we can swim for Luthien, right?”
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