Eldrian listens to her take on the Mother Tree with all the enthusiasm and eagerness she’s come to associate him with. His dark eyes widen in curiosity when she mentions the Chamber. He looks adoringly at the trunk when she tells him how it helped them heal from the fires. When she finishes, the colt touches the rough bark with his velveteen muzzle so softly that she wonders if he’s done it at all. She thinks it must be wonderful to be so keen to learn anything about everything; if only she could steal a bit of his youthful openness.
Emmerly is not nearly as naïve as her young charge, however. She’s seen more of the world than she ever thought she would, more than horses twice her age likely have, even.
She’s been hounded by werewolves and called upon by Winter himself. She’s followed the Easter bunny (and found an egg that had given her its flame) and battled the pink Valley once-queen. She had been beautiful and unmarked before all of her journeys. Now, scars line her body and few know the stories behind any of them. She’s done so much outside of her home that perhaps it had left her with little motivation to work within it. Or, maybe, the paint mare was always waiting to be called away again, caught up in her anticipation for the next adventure. Whatever the case was, she is wholly changed now. Eldrian has made her eager to commit; her next horizon is awaiting each sunrise with the brown boy.
This doesn’t mean that the fire has left her, however. The need for physicality stirs her into constant motion – she can’t help it. As her lesson on the Mother Tree winds down, Emmerly nudges her son, about to challenge him to a little race in the meadows beyond. But a sudden sound alerts her to the fact that they are no longer alone. Already in motion, the paint mare moves completely in front of the boy, her instincts well-honed but untested in such a capacity. When she sees who it is – the paint mare with the disfigured face – she relaxes immediately.
“Fiasko!” Emmerly steps back, allowing the colt to come forward. He meets this new face with the same enthusiasm as always. “Hello ma’am. I’m Eldrian.” His smile is instantaneous. Mother had told him they would be meeting lots of new horses – would be living with the rest of them, now that he has grown some – and he couldn’t be more excited at the prospect. He looks at his dam now, but she has already turned back to the other mare.
“It’s been more than awhile, but we are back to stay now. How have you fared?” Em wonders if the queen can tell that the boy isn’t hers’. She has no knowledge on children and their similarities to their parents to draw from. She hopes that if she does, she will not say anything (at least not in front of Eldrian). The paint has no time to elaborate on her current affairs, because the small group soon grows with the addition of a stallion. Emmerly had seen him loosely following them, always just far enough away to not draw suspicion (she is ever the strategist, after all). But he’d seemed harmless enough – perhaps he was just in search of company like the pair of them had been.
She notices the way he hangs back and look at Fiasko, unsure if the man was a new comer or just shy. Her blue eyes meet and hold his gaze, softening at his quiet introduction. “Hi there yourself. Come on over.” Her smile widens at her light mimicry. If he’d been closer, she would have given him a friendly bump with her muzzle. Instead of waiting for him to move closer, she moves herself, closing the distance between them. Eldrian trails in her wake. “I’m Emmerly.” The bay colt’s ears perk up, taking his cue. “And I’m Eldrian!”
Emmerly
walter x valien