((please no peak or lagoon claims <3))
The autumn sun rises slowly above the horizon, bathing the land in warm golden light. The canopy above the manchado mare sways in the gentle breeze, the soft susurrus of the leaves setting the pace for her ambling. She hasn't a clue where she is going, or what she will find when she gets there, but she intends to be the center of attention once she arrives. She was, after all, a rare jewel, made to be flaunted and admired.
Yet her family had never recognized her as such. Instead they had hid her away from the world, concealing her from the ardent gazes of would-be suitors, denying her the same opportunities her sisters had received. Time and the eventual revelation of the truth had turned her bitter. Her kin had never intended to let her find her own way in life, to seek the attention and desire and happiness she had craved for so long. No, their only intentions were to use her as a pawn, a playing piece in the political game they loved so dearly. They hoped to tie themselves to their neighbor, to use her as a peace offering after they had bested him in a war of attrition.
She would not be some failed king's consolation prize.
So in the dead of night she had slipped away, fleeing across the vast dunes of her homeland. Swift as the wind she had ran until she reached the sea, plunging herself into its dark and briny waters. She didn't know how long she swam, but finally - finally her hooves touched solid land, and she knew she was free.
A soft sigh breezes from between Rhiannon's parted lips, the long locks of her ivory-tipped tail sweeping against the delicate curve of her hock. Ahead of her the trees seem to thin, and the sound of voices float towards her cupped ears. Though she is eager for company, she takes a moment to pause just within the tree line, peering out from between the swaying saplings that edge the clearing she has come upon. Stretched out before her is a verdant field of green filled with the milling bodies of mares and - more importantly - stallions. Her eyes catch on a particularly pretty specimen, then another, and another still. Giddy at all the delicious possibilities laid out like a meal before her, Rhiannon raises her head and arches her neck, tail flagging behind her as she steps boldly from the trees with a coy smile curving her lips skyward. A beckoning whinny whistles from her lips as she sets off into the clearing at a trot, anticipating the intoxicating feeling of all eyes being on her at last. |
