Blue beckons; not her first friend here named Blue, but the shimmering brightness of salvation that laps at the sandy edges of the oasis. The brown mare steps into the blueness and it feels so good! Good enough to yank a sigh from somewhere deep inside her of immense satisfaction.
She takes a sip - just enough to wet her dry lips and tease her parched throat, and perhaps relieve some of the grit still in her mouth. That was her first mistake. Because the oasis bids her to step out a little further, sink a little deeper into that relaxing blue and after another sip… a sigh, a flutter of eyelids then HORROR!
Bean is chest deep in the oasis, eyes shut as she is plunged into the midst of visions that seem all too real. They even feel all too real! It is unlike any terror she has ever known, and no nightmare can compare as the scenes play themselves out like endless skeins of thread in her mind.
Her heart rips in two, jagged and torn as which mare suffered more. Why does that even matter? Because you must pick one to save, comes the answer in her ear. It is no more than a gust of hot simoom air but it feels like the desert’s own voice, something of magic and an understanding far beyond Bean’s.
Save only one?
Not fair!
Her sense of justice and righteousness rebels at this, but some part of her understands - that is nature’s canon, a law unto itself, one or none. Bean must make a choice as the black mare teeters on the edge and the palomino mare fights bravely but falters and falls to the sand. Her mind makes itself up for her… something about the black calling out for someone, calling a name to which no one answers…
It breaks her heart all over again and Bean - no, phantom-Bean, rushes forward, as careless about the cliff as the black mare is. “The edge!” she shouts, “You’re too close to the edge!” But the black doesn’t seem to hear her, so she must think of something else - another tactic, and quickly!
Wait - she called a name, that’s the key! Maybe… Bean isn’t sure but she maneuvers herself into position alongside the black, “I’m here,” she manages, making more than a stranger murmur as she tries to push the other away from the cliff. It’s hard to do - the black is too damn stubborn!
Bean’s shoulder collides with the black’s, small and brown and it’s quite a feat because Bean is much smaller and fuzzier than the beautiful queen. She manages to use her body to steer the black away from the edge but that puts the brown there, teetering instead. One misstep and it’s over for her!
“Aida’s here, Aida’s here,” she mutters, still trying to safely shoulder the black mare aside. She finally gets her off the cliff’s edge only to come face to face with that wild green stare. “I… I…” great, she’s stuttering. “I’ve seen her, I know where she is. Come on,” softer now, coaxing as she turns the black with a shove and a nuzzle.
“Come, this way.” still gentle, still coaxing and not at all disrespectful as the pair leave the edge behind them and move into the fog.
ooc: edited only for paragraph spacing, stupid phone!