The approaching thud of hooves in the distance growing closer followed by the shout - “Fell!” - briefly startled her. Maziel’s head whipped upward and a hard snort pushed out of her nostrils, inhaling deeply after to catch the mare’s scent mixed with the sea breeze as she drew closer. Her scent was personally unrecognizable to Maziel, but she wore Tinuvel like a second skin much like Maziel and Fell did, which at least helped Maziel feel like she wasn’t here to cause more troubles. She whispered a panicked question to Fell, but Maziel was close enough to hear it.
Are they back?
Who? Maziel frowned, ears pushing forward as she strained to understand the situation that was unfolding before her. Did this mare know Rafe? Had she been attacked by him before?
Tell me!
The fear in her raised voice made Maziel’s heartbeat increase, but Fell did not seem to feed the energy, or not that she could sense or hear. Whatever the new arrival had been worried of was not what worried Fell. The grainy sand crunched beneath the weight of his steps as he drew closer to her, then touched her, a soft, guiding touch. No resistance, Maziel acquiesced and began to move the direction he had indicated. She was relieved they were moving, that he wanted to move, not only to try and help pull him from his injuries, but also to be away from the dreaded ocean. The situation at hand was almost enough to ignore her fear of it but being so close the waves crashing sounded so much louder and Maziel loathed it.
Still, if he’d have needed her to, she would have stood on the beach all day and all night with him until he was finally ready to rise again.
Since she knew Fell could not speak and she could, she flicked her ears and glanced toward the direction she could hear the other mare. “It was the Salem stallion Rafe who came,” she explained in a quiet voice. She hated to speak the reality so plainly out loud while Fell sat fresh in the wounds (both physical and mental) but the fact he hadn’t tried to drive this mare away, even including her on their walk toward inland shelter told Maziel he must trust her. “He took Kohelet away.” Maziel said quietly, wondering if this mare must know how important Kohelet was to Fell and to this very herd, not knowing exactly how close the two were. She felt a soft pang of worry, hoping Kohelet was going to be alright.
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