everything we are, it just went away
with a slide of the tongue and a sour taste
She has to admit that she misses Hyaline, despite her growing attachment to the Cove. The waves that break the shore are much warmer than the mountain lake of Hyaline, even in the midst of winter, and not as pure and clean. Her bear longs for the cold and the mountains, just to roll amongst the ice and the snow, and she has to tell herself that she must return to the beautiful kingdom before long. She knows that Kensa would welcome the company, with Litotes being stolen away to Loess – that, and she doesn’t know what has befallen them.
The young mare – still barely more than a child – is finally growing into her legs and filling out in the barrel, and the childish awkwardness of her body is finally beginning to fade into something womanlier. Her horn, even, has grown longer than ever, its deadliness glistening in the sunlight that reflects off of it. Just as Kensa has changed since they were children, so has she, though she doesn’t notice the changes in herself as easily as the others do. Especially when the one she wants... rejected her as if she were the ugly duckling. That has been a hard mountain to climb, but each day gets a tiny bit better. His silent words in Tephra spoke volumes.
Kensa smiles as she recalls the day they met, and a matching smile grows on Dawn’s face. “I remember that day,” she says, a twinkle in her eyes as she recalls Kensa’s words to her: Aren’t you cold? And she hadn’t been. The icy mountain waters had never felt more welcoming to her, and she had giggled when Kensa, not much older than her, had pawed at the icy water as if wondering if Dawn had lost her mind. It was probably then, more than anything, that Dawn knew she had found lifelong happiness, at least wherever she decided to call home. She had friends.
The other mare asks about her life as they begin to walk, and Dawn lets out the smallest of sighs, looking away towards the horizon. “Rhae and I... had a falling out not long after we came to the Cove,” she tells her friend, hesitant to talk about it but needing to get it off her chest all the same. “He wanted me to come to Tephra with him, to be there with him... and Chryseis.” She is pointedly avoiding Kensa’s gaze now, both wanting and not wanting the other woman’s sympathy as she feels tears well in her eyes. “I... I told him I loved him... that I was in love with him. In not so many words. And he left.”
She pauses, both in voice and body, blinking hard to regain some control of her emotions. “We’ve not spoken since.”
Feeling the need to change the subject, she picks up a trot and heads to the west. They are near the top of the peninsula, and if she times it right, they’ll be able to trail the beach to avoid the cliffs that ring the western shore of the Cove. “Come, let me show you something. The obsidian sand here is absolutely beautiful.”
Dawn
oh, it's gonna be a long night
@[Kensa]