Tangerine
In the middle of the night, I go walking in my sleep
Electricity.
The fine hairs around her muzzle tingle and Tangerine stomach churns with apprehension. It had been so long since she had faced another.
"Jah-Lilah?" Tang whispers low enough to easily be missed. She wouldn't be surprised if it was the nomadic midwife who found her first, but this mare who approaches is silver not red. And although the air around her seems to crackle, she is not the far-traveling and electricity-manipulating friend of Tangerine's mother.
She is a stranger.
She has power.
She is dangerous until proven innocent.
Tang swallows her anxiety and stands still as the other approaches them, waiting for her to first interrupt the sounds of nature with a greeting or a threat. But the words which she speaks are not threatening, they are subtly flavored with compassion (or is that camaraderie?), and Tang finds that she desperately want's to accept that this stranger has good intentions or even no intentions at all.
But she has her daughter to think about.
The sight of the brand on her silver hip causes an electricity of her own creating spark in her chest. This woman, she knew what it was to have her sovereignty stolen, to be taken, to be left. She knew already what the painted mare had no idea how to verbalize.
But that kind of hurt could turn a victim into a villain, and she had no idea if the mare was here to host her own violent games.
With her thin legs still in the river, Celest stands a wide-eyed sentry. Her solitary play could not hold her attention after the appearance of the mysterious silver mare who interrupted their daily custom. She finds her first stranger so fascinating she forgets to wonder why they are not running away from this one.
Tang takes a step forward, the gravel crunching below her pale hooves.
"You haven't." Her voice finally finds its way, but it comes out too soft. She can't seem dull and broken like little rough pieces of something that used to be beautiful.
"You haven't," she tries again, stronger this time.
And she realizes as the words leave her - she doesn't want to be alone with her sadness.
Tang decides to take her chances, she had already told Celest one hundred times what to do if something happened to her.
"You can stay if you want. This is our favorite place." The words tumble from her.
Too forward, too desperate - Tangerine silently reprimands herself. And Celest shoots her mother a curious glance, intrigued but the strange interaction unfolding.