04-13-2020, 06:48 PM
Her steps falter, surprised that Ryatah speaks of the Valley with such fondness. She remembers trouble brewing there under her reign. Whispers of war. That was why she chose Nikkai for the throne; her trusted General had more strength for conflict, was better able to protect their kingdom through those uncertain times.
Chasity smiles apologetically as the mare catches her in her surprise.
“I didn’t know you lived in the Valley,” she says curiously, and though her memories of the kingdom are tainted, her voice remains kind. The politics of those days are buried in the past, the threat of war a lifetime ago. They are one and the same now, both longing for a place they once called home. “I’m sorry it has gone too.”
She sees the sadness in her eyes and touches her muzzle to the mare’s shoulder, a moment of quiet comfort as they share bittersweet nostalgia.
“You have come further than me,” she admits, knowing that she is far from being able to accept this new life. “I hope you have found some happiness here, Ryatah. Have you been well?”
She is quiet for a moment as she thinks about the mare’s next question.
“I have been…” she hesitates, wondering how to take the confusion, the loneliness of the past weeks and turn it into words. How does she explain that when she reaches into her memory all she finds are swirling clouds of blackness? That she does not know how she ended up here again? She suspects that too many years have passed and she cannot make sense of it, still living and breathing when it feels like an age since the falls were her home.
“I have been lost,” she admits, and she laughs because she knows that doesn’t begin to explain it at all.
She doesn’t know how much to reveal to the mare. Though they are connected by their past she is almost a stranger. Still, Chasity is so relieved to have found someone she can relate with after these lonely weeks in the forest that she feels her troubles spilling over the edges.
“There’s a lot that I can’t… I don’t remember. I don’t know, Ryatah. There is a lot that doesn’t make sense right now.”
She glances awkwardly at the mare, then sighs, closes her eyes and—
she is walking down to the edge of the sea, seashells crumbling underfoot. It is twilight, her favourite time of day, when the light of the sun and the moon dance together and paint the sky in colour. The ocean calls to her, a gentle rumble as the tide flows through the sand. She breathes salty air deep into her lungs and—
her chest tightens and her hairs stand on end long after she opens her eyes again to the forest around them.
CHASITY
listen to the birds sing softly.