I'll be almost to the ocean when you open your eyes
She is limping, a raw and saltwater-stinging collection of slashes sluggishly weeping blood down her leg. So close. She had been so very close to home, in sight of the familiar shore and ready to be back. It had been a turbulent journey already, the ocean currents uncooperative and wild around her. If they hadn't been, maybe she would have felt the massive form cutting through the water before it had rammed her. Maybe not.
Either way, she had been stunned for a moment. Had felt her hind leg be wrapped in something muscular and cold, and hadn't reacted until the pain registered. Then she had thrashed for her life. Pulled at the ocean with everything she had until it forced itself between her and her assailant, ripping out the barbs from her flesh as it did. That had almost stunned her again, but ocean wouldn't keep the monster at bay for long.
Ears ringing, she struck out blindly, only wanting to get away. From the monster, from the rocks, from whatever hungry but mundane sea goers would taste her blood and want more. She'd picked the wrong direction, of course. By the time she was able to drag herself onto a gritty beach, she was too tired to care.
She needed help. It was that, or die, here alone on a beach that wasn't Ischia's. She was too stubborn to let that happen. Too stubborn to let her wobbling knees collapse back beneath her when she forced them to stand. Granted, it was stubbornness that had gotten her into this mess in the first place.
Leaving a trail of bloody sand in her wake, the ragged seamare trudged inland, looking for something, anything to help. She needed to get home. Back to her children, to her island. But gods help her if she got back into the water today.
It was a matter of putting one hoof in front of the other, and that task took all her focus. It was only when a voice broke through the quiet that her attention wavered. "Hello?" She rasped, uncertain she'd heard anything at all. Then it comes again, and her doubt turned into concern. That was not a gentle voice. It was harsh and maybe a bit frightened.
She hesitated between steps, wondering if she would turn back. She was weak as it was, another conflict would whatever reserves she had left. This was the first sign of life she had come across though, and she couldn't turn her back now that she knew they were there. Groaning, and swearing, she tottered as quickly as she could toward the shouting voice. Prepared as well as she could for whatever she was walking into.
It was not what she anticipated. A stallion, alone she thought, until a small pale head rose from the underbrush. He smelled like fear, and she couldn't see why. "Hey- hey, what's wrong?" She asked, swaying softly at the edge of their clearing.
Aquaria
@[Dace]