ivar, i'm waiting on you

[Ivar]

i know i'm not the center of the universe -but you keep spinning 'round me just the same It’s not fear that causes the ominous thudding of his heart as she comes closer, but nor is it something more pleasant. His chest feels like the cage of a furious bird, constrained and uncomfortable. He holds his place in the water regardless, his instinctive wariness sparring with instructed politeness and losing. “I…nothing…” he stammers, “I mean, just the fish.” The piebald colt is not used to being lost for words. He is always charming, always ready with a quip. Yet his mouth is pangea dry as he watches her inspect the water at their feet. She seems smaller from this closer distance, but he does his best to lean away and avoid any contact with her at all. She’s also not an adult, like he’d assumed from a distance. She’s definitely older than Ivar is, but not by much more than a year. That makes him minutely less stiff, but he is still waiting for her to step away. She speaks instead, telling him that she is perfect. Ivar is startled, but then he realizes that perhaps she means it is her name, and not simply a truthful adjective. The roller coaster of uncertainty that he feels with the black filly doesn’t slow when she asks him where he is from. The smoky black colt has always been forthcoming about his home before, so the desire to be less than truthful is a novel one. Still, he is what he was taught to be. “No.” he says, “I’m not from here. I’m from Sylva.” -------------------i v a r ------------------------------------djinni and stillwater---------------------------------