Common

Vadim makes a horrific, garbled noise at her feet. The air in his lungs sounds wet, his breathing labored as he lays before her, pulled from her nightmares and made real. She wishes she could lift his face, do something to help him get out of the water that must be stinging, but he is torn to shreds and she is too afraid to touch him at all.

His eyes slip closed again and Arsinoe takes a step forward, voice going frantic as she murmurs “No – no Vadim,”. But before she can give him a command, tell him what not to do, he opens them again and her words die in her throat.

After a long pause, not so silent due to his labored breathing but suspiciously lacking any sounds of her own, Vadim lifts his head. Arsinoe does not turn away - she is no stranger to gore, but to see the stallion she loved (and who was utterly unbreakable, in her mind) in such a state makes her flinch. His face is ripped open, the source of all the blood pooling beneath his head. She cannot see tooth or bone, but that doesn’t really mean much. His shoulder, too, has been torn open, jagged edges of flesh hiding how deep it goes but clearly illustrating that it is serious. His ribs and hip are bleeding too, flesh just…gone. He must have come in over the rocks - the shore can be merciless in areas, and if he was unconscious or incapacitated in any way the pounding surf could easily win. It’s why Aesara isn’t here with her now - the tide is too high, and her young daughter too precious.

He starts moving and Arsinoe opens her mouth to point out his leg, to beg him not to try to stand, but she is too late. Vadim screams, a gut-wrenching noise that leaves her sweat-slick and feeling nauseous.

“Your leg,” she tells him, trying to gentle her voice when kind words do not come naturally to her. “I don’t think you’ll be able to walk on it.” If she were being honest, if she could bear giving voice to her fears, Arsinoe does not think he will ever be able to walk on it again – if he even survives.

Her eastern island is too far a swim for him with this injury, and in the Common, Vadim is far too unprotected. She cannot stay with him day and night, either – not unless she fetches Aesara and then has three to protect, or otherwise happens upon someone she can leave behind to guard the girl. If only she knew where any of her damned siblings were.

Arsinoe is so utterly alone, and faced with one of the driving factors that made her this way, she still cannot bring herself to abandon him. Maybe he can seek sanctuary in the Peak? Just long enough for him to recover. She has no idea who leadership is there these days, but it must be a better option than him remaining here, and the mares there have always been more trustworthy than the Lagoon.

“I don’t know how to protect you,” she tells him, her panic blunting her words and making them too sharp. “You cannot stay here, and you cannot make the swim to return with me. I cannot leave my home and daughter undefended, and I will not abandon you.” Not until he no longer breathes, of course. There is no use standing vigil over a corpse.

She tosses her head, huffing out a breath in frustration. She wants to lay at his side, let him rest his giant head on her side and keep it out of the water but even that - lying down, losing sight of their surroundings - feels too vulnerable right now. “Who did this to you, Vadim?” she asks, wondering again how he could turn up now, in this place, in such a sorry state.