It’s rare that Nayl lets others see the emotion behind her cool mask; Djinni suspects she is only witness to this display because of how suddenly she had appeared before the queen. The same can often be said for the grullo mare and her own mask, but the curiosity and concern that wrinkle her striped brow are genuine.
The tightness of Nayl’s jaw and the hardness of her eyes – they do not go unnoticed.
The tobiano mare re-adjusts her mask as she breathes in the fresh salt air, and it does not even occur to Djinni to wonder what others scents might have been intertwined with the sharp briny smell of the sea. She is thinking only on Nayl, and what might be behind her anger. What burdens is a queen supposed to have? Should she be feeling equally as burdened? Is that what that uncomfortable weight inside her chest is?
Nayl says that it’s been a while, and Djinni agrees with a nod of her head. Then she asks what Djinni has been doing, and for a moment silence falls between them.
“You told me to find friends for Nerine…” she begins at last, and even though she’s barely a handful of words into her story, she already seems, somehow, reluctant. She continues without pause, the hesitation in her tone, not her timing. “I did. Stillwater is in charge of Sylva now.” Djinni somehow manages to speak directly to Nayl while still avoid perfect eye contact. Her gaze is somewhere on the horizon of the black sea. She looks – for all intents and purposes – like she is mildly embarrassed.
Is it just an act though? Or is Djinni, for perhaps the first time in fifty years, finally having to deal with the results her action have caused?
slim build
smoky grullo minimal tobiano
mare