For now, she lets herself believe his words - believes with all her heart that she is brimming with life. She fears that it will go away as soon as she is without him again, but that is a trouble for another time. For now, they are together.
When he steps back from her, she feels the rush of cool air against her skin and wants nothing more than to close the gap again - but his smile is infectious and one begins to grow on her own expression as she nods her agreement. It is not as wide as his, perhaps, but it shines with the love she feels for the stallion in front of her.
There is nothing he could ask of her that she would deny him, and though she does not wish to be separated from him - there is undeniably a spark of joy that ignites old memories within her. When was the last time she ran? Not to escape the horrible things she had done, not to put some distance between herself and the land that had caused her so much heartache, but just for the simple joy of it? She has denied herself so much happiness since she had returned to life, finding it so easy to tell herself she did not deserve to feel anything but sadness and ever-present hatred for herself.
“Catch me.” She whispers to him before she turns in the direction his eyes had gone to the horizon and her legs stretch out beneath her. She’s tempted, so tempted, to use her shapeshifting to give herself wings. She wants to fly with him, to learn from the lifetime of experience he has when she has only tried it a small number of times. But she’s also frightened to show him how much she has changed. It's not just the loss of pigment in her coat, it goes so much deeper.
Later she tells herself. If they have a later, she can give him the chance to decide whether he will truly love her forever - or if there are limits.
Her heart is already breaking at the idea of losing him again, but when she looks back to see if he has joined her, she shoves those fears and worries and pains aside.
Plume had said they should run, so she runs.
