A stray breeze toyed with the locks of the young stallion's mane. The strands whispered against his skin and settled as the wind passed, stark black against the spot-mottled fur of his neck. The last six months had been so much harder than the young male would have expected, and the grief settled like a bitter stone in his gut. Indivar never would have guessed when he left the Hills that day in fall that it would be the last time he ever saw his baby brother.
He had been told that his mother and Alisander had been playing hide-and-seek. While she was counting, his brother had ran past the marker Kalirrhoe had told him not to go beyond. They weren't sure what had happened exactly, but, with the wet rocks and ledges from the crashing waves, it had been presumed the young red dun spotted colt slipped on the slick stone and fell into the water below. No one had been able to reach him in time.
Indivar had grieved deeply, blaming himself all the while. He reasoned that, if he hadn't left that day to meet Andromeda, then Alisander wouldn't have been alone. He would have noticed his little brother trying to go too far. He would have stopped him, and Ali would still be here. Now, nearly three seasons and one birthday later, Indivar anxiously left the Hills again. He wondered if some other tragedy would befall his family while he was gone.
The young stallion hadn't seen Andromeda in all this time, but he had left to go look for her. He had never meant to miss their last meeting, but the thought of leaving the Hills so soon had been too much for him to handle, too much for his mother to handle. Kalirrhoe had been inconsolable, far different from the warm, happy mare he had always known. The leopard boy wondered if he would have the strength to go home, knowing the emptiness Alisander's death left behind would be waiting for him.
He had been wandering the Crossing for days, mainly sticking to the coastline and going across the Meadow and Falls. There was no way to tell if she'd been here any time recently. Indivar's fortune changed with the wind, bringing the golden girl's scent to him on a breeze. Immediately, the young stallion turned and followed it. Sometime later, he approached her with a nicker passing through his dark lips. Indivar would accept her anger if that's what she gave for his not showing up, but, more than anything, he wanted to embrace the only one he felt he could truly confide in.
"Andromeda," he murmured, offering his maw to her. "I have missed you." The tones of his voice were warm to her, but there would be something obvious in it that would tell her something had happened. He wondered how the last several months had treated her, all too desperate to do anything for the golden maiden he cared so deeply for.
indivar*