Was it time? Was it time to return? She could no longer tell… She felt like her mind was sluggish, syrupy and stuck, having lost track of time and location in the past few days while she had tried to focus on the present rather then the incessant burning in her veins. She had been feeling it ever since she had been separated from her father and come to this wretched place. Everything burned. Every muscle, vain, nerve ending… Every fiber of her bloody being felt like it was on fire. She knew the remedy, knew there was a cure for this ailment. This wasn’t the first time this sickness had struck her after all. It seemed that every time they moved this happened. It was the wait… One day the wait would be what killed her… That much she could say for certain.


Hoof would lift before slamming to the ground, grinding her toe into the ground, muscles tensing as she pressed her forehead into the rough bark of a spruce tree. She had traveled through the forest and deeper into this land, straight to the heart, searching incessantly but slowly her mind was beginning to fray, to unravel. If she was close she should be able to smell them… Right? She was no longer sure what was happening, where she was or what she was doing. All she knew was that her forelock was starting to get long, annoyingly so in fact, and she wanted to shorter. Skull would rub up and down, shoving mane and forelock into the rough bark in an attempt to wear it down or maybe just rip it out.


Head would slam against the tree once more, lips pulling back over clenched teeth and rusty eyes clenching shut. Everything burned. Everything would burn… The massive woman would step back, hind hoof raising them slamming to the ground as she arched her neck to look over her shoulder. She would pivot quickly, massive beast turning to face the caves she had come to halt outside of. She didn't know what was inside but something about them called to her, pulling at the primal part of her being that kept her going through these dark times. She felt lost, confused... Would these caves hold the answers? It felt like an eternity that she would stand there staring into their cold depths as though her answers might waltz out themselves and make themselves know. No. She wasn't naive, wasn't stupid. But she was beginning to feel a bit desperate. One hoof would raise before she would take a tentative step forward, should she enter...?