She raises her head to the enthusiastic approach of another mare, offering a nod though she does not speak at first, though when there was a pause she offers, “I’m Kellyn.” The other mare is bright and almost enough to bring Kellyn to a response, but she is nothing compared to the fire that is Zilpah. The strawberry girl can’t help but smile in response to the appearance of her old friend, however brief their acquaintance had been. Zilpah and Kreios had been kind, even her very short meeting of Yael had been relatively pleasant, but it had not been enough to hold her to the Deserts.
Perhaps the Tundra had not been ready to let her go, or perhaps she was not ready to leave home then.
“Zilpah,” she says the greeting with a gentle laugh, her eyes flicking to watch Malka’s reaction to her hyper-active friend. In her opinion, it will say a lot about the mare if she takes Zilpah in stride. When the Deserts girl has introduced herself to Malka and fallen silent, Kellyn looks from one to the other again. “I had family things to attend to,” she says to Zilpah, though she does not elaborate. Let them think it was a Tundra matter, with her father or her grandfather or even her absent brother. She does not want to explain that she went on a crazy mission for her maternal grandfather that she is still not sure was entirely real.
Malka had asked a question also, and as much as she would like to listen quietly to the two of them, she knows that will get her nowhere. Speaking is part of polite society, as she’s learned. “I am from the Tundra,” she explains to the Jungle woman. “And as welcome as family makes me, there is nothing permanent for me there.” Kellyn has no idea that she is technically niece to the son Malka thinks so fondly of – she has steered clear of most visitors to the Tundra, including Malka and her son, for as long as she can remember. Part of Cagney’s plan to keep her identity a secret. The little mare was always blissfully unaware of the cold – it is nothing to the Tundra’s winter, and even further from the cold that had been space.
“I don’t know much about the Jungle.” Her green eyes travel back and forth from one to the other again, settling on Zilpah. “And how fares the Deserts since I was there? Is Yael still Queen?” Yael had been nice, but almost too nice. It had put Kellyn on edge, waiting for the other side to show. Everyone had another side.
daughter of cagney and elite