The day had started out mundane as normal but as Ashitaka watched the young foals play in the falling snow he couldn’t shake this sense of unease that was brewing within him. He could sense that something was coming and there was this ominous feeling in the air. Tinuvel was renowned for its cold winters but the temperature had dropped to the point where even he, a Hokkaido stallion that was raised in similar conditions, was starting to feel numb beneath his thick coat. The wind picks up and Ashitaka lifts his head to the air and bellows in an authoritative tone,
“Foals, get back to your mothers now.” For a brief moment he catches eyes with his niece, Ameyuki. She is frozen in place for a few seconds, eyes wide in alarm, before she quickly snaps out of it and races back to her mother.
With his head down and ears drawn back to protect them from the cold, Ashitaka battles through the howling wind to get to Mizuki.
“Stay with Nicodemus and find shelter, I need to find Tamar,” he leaves before his sister has a chance to protest. Cursed Dreams was his other mare but she had assured him on many occasions that she could look after herself. So he would look for her once the storm had blown over and hoped she would be unharmed. Tamar wasn’t exactly helpless either, like him she was bred for harsh conditions. But she was carrying his child, a fact he still hadn’t come to grasp with. He couldn’t leave her to face the storm by herself.
Trudging through the snow and wind he came across two figures also battling through the elements. They were lucky that he happened upon them since he could barely see them in the near white out conditions. At first he assumed they were herd members but as he steadily marched forward he realized that wasn’t the case,
“What are you-” he breaks off. It was not the time for questions. They were both wet with sea water and the mare was visibly shivering. They were strangers. They could be a threat to his family. But Ashitaka could not turn them away and have his conscious be darkened by regret. Tamar would have to wait a few minutes more.
“This way,” he calls above the roaring winds and turns back the way he came,
“I will lead you to shelter.”ASHITAKA
Male. V. Bay Roan. Hokkaido Horse. 13.3HH. Beta of the Inlet.