The soft crunch of their hooves in the quiet Spring air felt painfully loud to Kohelet, her every sense dialed to eleven as she navigated paths that had once been second nature to her. Her - their - son said nothing as he followed his mother, although she could feel his curious gaze resting on her more often than not. Ivo knew his mother was often nervous about one thing or another, wearing her anxieties like a second skin, but something about today was different.

It wasn't until the pine trees through which they'd traveled thinned that their steady pace slowed and they drew to a halt together, Ivo's intelligent gaze momentarily distracted by the world around them. He'd spent most of his time in the Desert, kept hidden and quiet lest he garner more of Nyimara's attention than necessary, and so this world seemed foreign to him. An alien universe in which nothing made sense. Trees lived here, real trees, not just the stubby, prickly things they called trees back home. And the water was everywhere, it dripped and rushed and froze and seeped into everything. The cold, however, was the worst. Ivo had no defenses against the brisk Spring wind, and he shivered at his mother's side, inadvertently shifting closer to her for warmth.

It took three tries before Kohelet managed to clear her throat well enough to call for Fell, and even then the proud, confident call she'd imagined wavered in the air. She'd been a queen twice now, once beneath a man she'd loved and once on her own, but she still felt like a scared little girl who had no idea what she was doing.

Ivo turned his gaze back to her again, and they shared a wordless look, and thin, tense smiles, before lapsing back into silence to wait.

mare - mutt - black tobiano - 16.1h - solomon x sicily