Falls

He responded to her hypothetical question with humor, and a warm, breathy laugh slipped from between Lavender’s lips. “That is not something I fear,” she said in reply a few moments later, her voice still soft as it always was, but carrying a layer of certainty that hadn’t been there before. The stallion before her had never given Lavender a reason to fear him. And as if to prove she meant it, her blue eyes settled on his face, seeking to meet and hold his gaze, not shying away. “I did miss you, Khyber.”

It was the truth, simple and complicated all at once.

In the brief span of silence that followed her confession, Lavender felt that she was standing in the shallows of the sea, and the current was pulling at her legs, relentless in its attempts to drag her out to deep water. Not physically, of course, but in a way that left her emotions muddled. It was daunting, and she felt a ripple of relief ease the sudden tension that had bloomed in her chest when Khyber went on to answer her question.

“It is a good place to think,” the pale golden mare ceded as she glanced around, before turning her attention back to him, attentive and ready to listen if he should wish to speak a little of whatever it was that had led him to seek solitude. When he spoke of Garmr, Lavender gave a subtle nod. “I remember him,” she said.

He had been there, in the Commons, the day she’d first set hoof on these shores, wounded and weak from the journey. The Boss hadn’t been the one to claim her, but he had claimed the mare Ursa, who had come to her aid. Neither the larger mare nor the stallion that had claimed Lavender herself had remained much longer. She did not know what had become of either of them.

Lavender found herself speaking up again, despite her inner resolve not to interrupt the brown and white stallion further. But upon hearing that some ill had befallen Khyber, she felt herself fighting back a wave of guilt, even as a stab of worry needled at her heart. “You were sick,” she echoed, unable to keep the worry from her voice despite the fact that he had seemingly recovered well enough that he was just as she remembered him. “Are you well now?” Her head tilted then, eyes roaming over his white patterned frame, as if searching for some sign of injury or lingering effect of illness that she might have missed.

If she had still been in the Lagoon, perhaps -

There was that current again, drawing her away from solid ground. In an effort to keep her metaphorical footing, she allowed herself to be comforted by whatever he said in response, and then pondered over what he had spoken of earlier, of the changes occurring in the Lagoon. “I suppose…” Lavender ventured to share her thoughts in turn, pausing to gauge whether it would be welcome. “You will have to decide which of the two are more likely to lead the Lagoon in a direction that will see the parts of your life there you want to see preserved changing the least.”

She shifted her weight, tail swishing. “There is some comfort in knowing that whatever is decided soon, in this upcoming election, it will only be for a season.” Not literally, but from what little she had gleaned of the power structure while she’d been in the Lagoon, as well as Khyber’s mention of an election, it sounded like a frequent thing.

The uncertainty he’d expressed with her - ‘... I'm not even sure what pull I even still have…’ weighed a little on her mind. Feeling emboldened, she reached to nudge him playfully, following the touch (which felt energized to Lavender, a sensation shooting down her spine that was not unlike the shift in the air before a storm) with a gentle tease. “Where’s that ego gone, hmm?” The manner in which she ducked her head a little as she withdrew gave away the brief shyness that overtook her.

There was more she wanted to say, but the sudden realization of how easy it was to talk to the bachelor before her - the sire of her sons and daughter - left Lavender feeling unsteady. Without knowing, Khyber’s words only left the small mare feeling everything even more intensely.

“I-” Lavender drew in a breath. “The Prairie is beautiful.” It was a truth, because Lavender could never bring herself to be dishonest with anyone, least of all Khyber, who had protected her, and never done her any harm. But it wasn’t what he had asked of her. That current tightened its hold on her, and she felt her strength waning. She would have to tell him eventually, about how their son had vanished, and she hadn’t come looking for him until now, because -

The question rang in her ears; are you happy there?

For now, Lavender continued to skirt around the question, and instead seemingly changed the subject. “There is a glade here, in a shallow valley,” the mare said, feeling her heart gripped by apprehension. “It’s not far, just where the trees begin to give way to the valleys north of here, near the border.” The words were followed by a vague point of her ivory muzzle. “Please, you don’t need to stay long, but… It’s important,” Lavender beseeched, her voice dropping just a little as she finished her plea, “to me. And I want you to go there with me.”