rethe
Momma was gone. Not just to a neighbors or up the mountain to "clear her head," but gone-gone. I knew because she'd held me extra tight, smothering my face with kisses and squeezing me until I had to cry out in protest, breathless but delighted. I hadn't realized then how lonely gone-gone really was.
She had said she would come back for me when she could, that she just needed to take care of some big-horse things but that had been five whole days ago and I was beginning to lose hope. There was no better place in the world to be than the Bay; there was my dad, and Emhyr and Khoshekh and Mazikeen. Plus all the other siblings, too. Una was gone, but momma had said that was to be expected. That she was a big-horse now too, and it was time for her to find her own family.
I didn't ever want to find a new family.
I just wished mine was all together again.
When I am I big horse, I'm going to make them all be together again, whether they like it or not.
My pale hooves scuffed at rocks as I passed, sending the small round stone skittering ahead of me. I used to like to chase it, cutting back and forth, trying to anticipate which way it would bounce so that I could kick it again before it landed but my heart wasn't in it today. Not even the warm autumn day or the playful breeze that tugged at my tail could lift my mood. Everything just sucked.