| Zuri just don't believe in the cost. |
| Stones clattered beneath the yearling’s hooves as she slowly picked her way up the winding path. Young as she was, there was a hardiness to her, an acute awareness of her surroundings, and a measure of self-confidence that had her seemingly at ease - though with a healthy dose of wariness - as she climbed the mountain alone, with no guardian in sight.
Rounding a bend, she stopped short upon finding she had stumbled upon another mare, one who appeared to be in distress. “Oh!" A jolt of alarm lanced through the young tobiano, but there seemed to be no physical injury, no scent of blood in the air, no predator. That there seemed to be no immediate danger, she bade her heart to slow its racing, and took a small step back, in an attempt to give back some ground, and be respectful of the space between them. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…" Zuri averted her gaze, at a loss for what to say. It was clear the other mare was upset, but since Zuri had no idea why, and they were strangers, and she had wandered right into her home she didn’t feel it was her place to ask what was wrong. But at the same time, wouldn’t it be rude not to ask? Zuri knew that if she was feeling sad, she’d appreciate someone asking if she was okay. Not that she was sad often, or at least, she’d never felt the depth of sadness that the young mare before her seemed to be navigating. At the same time though, she’d not been accustomed to her emotional state being something that her mother had picked up on, so she’d adapted to the indifference she’d been raised in. Shuffling a hoof awkwardly, the tobiano filly settled on apologizing again, wanting to try and convey that she was truly sincere. As the wind shifted a moment later, however, she was reminded anew of the reason she’d ascended the lower slopes of the mountain. “Is it safe here?" Her ears that had tilted back in uncertainty now pricked forwards with hopeful curiosity. “I mean, the herd gathering over that way, they won’t come here, will they?" With her muzzle, Zuri pointed vaguely down the slope in the direction of the cove that she had come ashore at, after she’d been pulled across the channel after getting caught in a current while cooling off in the sea just north of the Peak. For a day or two she had lingered amongst the trees near the beach, waiting for a calm day to make the swim to return to the valleys shadowed by the great Mountain. Looking back to her unexpected companion, Zuri offered a little more clarity. “I recognize a number of scents from the Desert herd on the wind. I was born among them, on Salem, but I do not want them to know I am here.” She drew in a deep breath, as if bracing herself. “It’s okay if you need to be alone and you want me to go. I just don’t want to go back down that way.” |