The painted mare grazed near the heart of the territory, alone for the first time in weeks. Amalia and Ivo had only just begun to grow confident in wandering the territory when Solomon had passed, and in the wake of such a loss, Kohelet had clung tightly to all of her children, young and adult. Some were more accommodating to her fretfulness while others - like Rethe - seemed to resent it.

The heaviness of her father's loss still threatened to drown her somedays, and so - at Amalia's tender suggestion - she had thrown herself into being busy. There was only so much for her to do considering she carried no rank or responsibility, but she made her own patrols around the borders, even deviating to the Arch and to the Cove on occasion. She did her best to keep tabs on the herd, although she would freely admit that she barely knew any of them anymore. Some were familiar enough, but most were strangers to her.

It hurt her heart to realize how disconnected she had become.

Not just from her own children, which was bad enough, but from the herd, too. Once, she had almost been as much a part of the Bay as Fell had been, inseparable from the island that had birthed her. Everything had changed after Rafe had taken her, and while she firmly believed knowing was better than not knowing, she knew she had missed a great deal. Now, it seemed almost all of the mares were happy where they were, content beneath Fell's rule. And he had - mostly shockingly - allowed in a non-relative as a sublead beneath him. She was still adjusting to seeing Zurok and Canis roaming around with their respective families.

Even the victory won by Rafe's son had not seemed to rile Fell as much as she would have expected, and it left her feeling slightly off-kilter. She was home, in a place more familiar to her than the back of her own fetlock, and yet almost an alien world to the place she had left so long ago. Still, she knew it was where she belonged, alien or not, so she might as well figure out how to grow rainbow gills herself.

The weak late autumn sun filtered down in bright bursts as thick clouds obscured it, their long-reaching shadows skimming across the open clearing she grazed in. Health and happiness had restored the leanness she'd developed in the desert, and while a pallor of grief still lingered in her brown eyes, she looked (mostly) like herself. Lifting her dark head, she gazed across the open space before whickering softly to see if any where inclined to have company.

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