Common

"What am I doing?" The words were delivered at whisper level, though no less harsh in their admonishment for their lack of decibels. The young mare stood poised on the beach of the Commons, her pretty spotted coat still soaking wet from her swim. Thankfully, the sun was warm on her back and helped keep the spring chill from her bones, but it wasn't the cold that made her tremble.

Butterflies ricocheted through her stomach with little regard to her current, self-imposed predicament. She was nervous and excited and terrified and hopeful all at once, and each and every one of those emotions showed on her pretty glass face.

She took a slow breath, trying to ground herself as she looked forward and scanned the Commons. "It's just another territory," she reasoned with herself, though she could feel the falseness in her own words. Though Ettie had mostly good things to say about the Commons considering it had allowed her to find Gwyn, Edith still remembered that she needed to be careful. That the world did have dangers, even if she hadn't seen them herself.

Not everyone will be your friend, little duck, her mother had murmured in caution. But smile, and put your best foot forward and it will all turn out alright.

Bolstered by the memory, she swang her heavy tail at her haunches and then walked forward with her freckled chin lifted, painfully eager to start living her own life.