Falls

Shenzi cut through the surf and dug her hooves into the sand the moment the waves pushed her toward the shore. There was no pausing for breath on the beach - instnatly she turned inland, heading for the treeline, which swallowed her from sight as she ventured to the falls. The cool air on her wet coat - so dark it appeared black in the dim light that managed to filter through from the canopy above, made her shiver. As with every other time she'd left the Desert, she missed the heat, and the warmth of a body beside her.

But despite the shivering that had taken root in her, the scarred barb mare did not turn back. What lay ahead, hopefully, would afford her some answers, and it was yet to be seen if she would indeed return to the Desert proper, or if she'd go back only to retrieve Jaziri and gather him to her, keep him close, because in that nearness she found certainty, and he would perhaps be the first thing she managed to hold onto without losing, or failing.

Or perhaps it would be better if she did not return for him at all. But no - she couldn't bear the thought of another son despising her, or of losing all that she had left.

Despite the occasional tremor still rippling through her, she waded halfway across the river - deep enough to reach her knees, and turned to face the waterfall, as though she were intending to travel upstream toward the distance falls. But Shenzi did not take another step, merely turned to stare into the shadows between the trees, reliving a memory, and seeing in her mind's eye the sneer of a cocky young colt who'd been so brazen to pursue her from the Lagoon, and the silhouette of a king who had passed seasons ago, but whose legacy had rooted deep in the very soil of the Islands.