"I'm not going alone." The young mare's expression was resolute, her bright eyes narrowed in defiance. The older stallion across from her - her sire, if one's eyes were sharp enough to catch the similarities in their firgures - sighed in exasperation, his dark lips taut with a frown. He opened his mouth to speak again but the red mare cut him off again. "I'm not." This time her assertation was accompanied by a vicious swipe of her deep chestnut tail and she shot him a glare. "You can run off and do your little meet and greet and then you can take me to the Cove. But I'm not going alone."
"Sy," the stallion began, his tone frustrated. "It's safer-" Again, she cut him off.
"No." Her words were sharper now, her tone elevated. "You can go play hero of the Lagoon again now that the nice guys are back in power, but I'm not going to run home and have the conversation you're too afraid to have for you." The grullo tobiano before her flinched at the truth in her words, shrinking away from his daughter.
Silence stretched for a moment before she followed it up again with a toss of her pretty head. "I'm going to stay right here while you go say hi and make your empty promises to the lucky newbie Boss, and when you're done, we'll go tell the grandfather I've never met exactly what little you've been up to over these years."
Rehoboam said nothing, just watched his daughter for a long, long moment. "I will be right back." He finally murmured, his expression conflicted. The red mare made a derisive noise in her throat and turned away from him with a flick of her tail again, pacing a few steps away before calling back over her shoulder. "Like you said you would be in Paradise?" Final barb launched, she picked up a light jog away from him and set a course for the interior of the Meadow.
Wounding him didn't afford Osiris pleasure. She didn't do it because she liked the beaten puppy look on her father's face. She did it because, as far as she could tell, he needed it. He needed someone who cared enough about him to make him face down his demons, rather than continuing to run from them. As far as she was concerned, life on the Crossing - bumming it season to season - wasn't all that bad. She met interesting new horses, got to hear gossip from all the islands (that she didn't get to see), and never had to worry about being forced to go anywhere against her will (so long as she stayed hidden from the Lagoonies).
Okay, so it wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bad either. She just craved something... more. Some sort of adventure or romance or excitement. Something interesting enough that the next time she went to tell a story, it could be about herself, and not about someone else.
She just had to find it.
Osiris - Mutt - Adult - 15.3h - Red Dun Tobiano - Rehoboam x Celestine
we all eat lies when our hearts are hungry.