Falls

I'll wait for you. She thought of those words each day that she roused. Thought of their meaning. The way she'd felt when she said it. The expression on his face. Remembering all of it helped with the waiting, although not by much. The loneliness was somehow worse for knowing that it might have an end date.

And yet she waited.

Following her conversation with Vadim, Esmeray had retreated to the northernmost region of the Falls, nearly in the foothills of the Peak. There was enough company that passed through that she was never truly alone, but nowhere near enough to the Commons to be bullied there against her will. And certainly far enough away from the Lagoon that she was unlikely to draw their interest.

She found herself musing over Vadim's progress in the months that passed, fretting over a man she barely knew even as she shivered against the Crossing's bitter winter cold. Had he managed to orchestrate the reunion he wanted? Had the striped stallion's daughter taken him in? If yes, where was he? And if not, why hadn't he come for her?

And how much longer was she willing to wait?

Spring had descended on the Crossing and Esmeray relished in the shedding of her thick winter coat, scrubbing it off on trees and bushes every chance she got until her tawny coat gleamed once more. In a way, you could almost see every place that she had traveled in the past week or so, but she didn't regret it at all. She felt better than she had in months, and had even begun to travel the far eastern beaches just in case Vadim came up that far north.

Which was exactly where she found herself today, the warm Spring sun heating her back, the damp sand soft underfoot, the ocean breeze lifting the tendrils of her dark mane. It wasn't quite Salem, but it wasn't all bad either.