Falls

Saoirse listens carefully. Her shell-like ears on Tarot while she explains her situation. The perils of following the lines, the paths others cannot see. The pale mare understands and inclines her head a little more, trying to find a gentle place to land.

Life and death were not easy to mingle, once decided one or the other was impossible to get away from. Saoirse nods at the other mare. Her eyes are fierce but understanding. She herself had never given birth, she did not know exactly how it must feel to have no choice. Knowing you were to give life but only plunging it into death. It must weigh heavily on the other mare.

“I’m sorry for your misfortune,” Saoirse says then, as if her words could make a difference. She looked from the mare to the falls and back again. “I have lost most of what was my family.”

It hangs there for a moment, all those memories, before Saoirse gives Tarot a little smile. “If you want your babe to live, I offer my home to it.” Maybe it was too forward, her idea, but she could think of no other option if Tarot wanted to save her child.

“I will mother it for you, raise it strong and healthy. Teach it the way of the roots and the herbs and give it all my knowledge.” Saoirse shrugs one gilded shoulder, her tail flicking lazily around her rounded hips. “You may come to see it, if you like, of course.”