Both of them have been many things to many people, over the course of their lifetimes. Pevensie has lived much longer, of course, but fate has given both of them a choice – strange powers, things their families did not have – or their birth Kingdom. Pevensie had chosen to leave the Falls. Natilyn had stayed, for longer than she ever thought she could – but eventually she, too, had left. Fate had taken a part of both of them that should have been easy, and pure, and made it hard. Pevensie has found refuge, however fleeting, in the Deserts. Natilyn has found it in Mikhael.
Quietly, the mare steps across the stream to stand beside Pevensie, following the other mare’s gaze to the sky. Almost unconsciously, as she admires the deep darkness broken by bright stars, Natilyn changes color. Her body darkens to the deep blue-black of the night sky, her mane and tail bright the soft white of the snowdrifts in the dark. “It is beautiful,” she says, willing to admire it for the time being (though nothing matches the Falls, nor will it ever). But the answer is out of order, and she turns her attention to the other half. Why is she here?
“Well I’m from Beqanna, but I’ve been away. With my lover, and my daughter. Things just weren’t quite right for us here. But my daughter…” Natilyn sighs, tearing her eyes away from the sky to skim the field, wondering what Nairne dreams of where she sleeps not so far away. “Nairne wanted to come back, to the Falls, where she was born. I came to make sure she got here safely, and in case she changes her mind.” A little wistful, there, a tone of loss. She and Mikhael make a whole without Nairne; they were whole before and will be whole afterwords – but that does not mean they do not love her and want her around. It will be hard, to leave her daughter here.
But Mikhael does not belong in the Falls, and Natilyn can’t be whole without him. She tried, for so long, but it was never right.
