Common

Mother had been gone two years. Hiyori nearly the same. Where had they gone that they didn’t want her to follow? What of Faye, her youngest sister still nursing at mother’s side when she disappeared? Worry constantly nagged at her thoughts, her stomach churning to the point it hurt most days. But fear of what her father had done; of Fell finding her, kept the smokey colored mare locked away amongst the mountains. Afraid to leave the one sanctuary her mother assured would always be safe for her.


But one day, that worry was too much, and something snapped inside Kaeja. Instead of pausing along the border, too hesitant and indecisive to step across the line, she blasted past it at a full gallop. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her vision blurred, but she could care less to where she was going. It was too much. All of it was too much.


“Hiyori!” she called, her voice high pitched and clearly upset. With the condition she had last seen mother, Kaeja did not hold out hope to ever lay eyes on her again. But her pale sister? There was no reason she should be missing, unless trouble had followed her brave sibling. Why had she never gone looking for her before? As the older sister, she should have taken responsibility and done something before now. Before it was clearly too late. “Hiyori!” she called again, with no real hope for an answer, but she continued to call regardless.


When Kaeja stopped, her legs were trembling, and sobs wracked her body. The lid that had been so tightly sealing her emotions away had clearly broken. Now, free of the Peak, Kaeja had no idea what she was supposed to do or where she was supposed to go. Clueless to her surroundings, she did not even try to hide as she let her grief spill out in tears upon the dying autumn grass.


She just wanted her family back.