The quiet of the wintery afternoon washed over Vi as she stood alone upon the cliffside. Milk stained eyes peered out towards the horizon, unseeing and unknowing of the vibrancy of life that lay just before her. Above and below, her ears chased the melodic songs of seabirds as they carried about their daily tasks. Nerine was still an unfamiliar place to her filled with unfamiliar voices and scents that paraded around her constantly. It was enough to send her retreating father into herself despite her greater efforts to embrace this new land that her mother seemed to love.
But it was not home.
The jungle was gone. Vi understood that, but the reality stung nonetheless. The memories she held having grown up among the towering tropical trees and the suffocating humidity made the barren land of Nerine more difficult to embrace. The only comfort within it’s borders was her parents. Their gratitude to have her returned to them was evident in their collective breaths and their protective natures. She was grateful for them.
Her thoughts turned as a new smell reached up to greet her nostrils. She knew the sweet smell of the mountains well and, though, she did not know the name that the land was referred to now, she smiled to know that it lived on. Instinctively she turned her head and smiled in the direction of the approaching shadow. She was small and, Vi knew that she was young. Waiting patiently the shifted from one hoof to the other, cursing her weakened state and knowing all too well that soon she would need to go and rest.
Nearer now, the filly’s voice rose up, almost too loud for the blind mare’s ears. She was curious, Vi knew, and her smile faltered only momentarily before replacing itself placidly back upon her lips.
“My name is Vi,” she said calmly. “I am new to Nerine though not new to Beqanna. Hyaline, you say? I have not yet heard the mountains to be called such though I recognize the smell of it. Why are you so far from home, little one?”
Vi could not help but think upon her own child, Reshi. It felt strange not to have her child there beside her, though she knew that the blue filly was no longer such. A mare grown, Scorch had told her. The truth had hit her like a rock slide. How long had she been missing? And, hadn’t anyone cared to search for her?
More than just the land had changed, it seemed. Vi struggled to keep up.
VI
lights will guide you home
@[Tahti]