Ruske;;

      I had agreed, in some paroxysm of good will, to escort the damp mare home. To be perfectly honest, I doubted after only a short time the worth of that mission. She reacted with quick severity to her brief dip in the icy river, babbling senselessly in response to even the most mundane questions. Perhaps she would die before we even moved far beyond the meadow… But having taken responsibility, I could not justify leaving her side until I saw her certainly dead or within the care of another – capable – healer. Unsure myself of the direction in which our destination lay, I attempted to guide her north – approximately – and supposed we may either find her beach, or find the World’s Edge and its capable assortment of mares.

      The scent of the sea pinched my nostrils first. I heard it distantly when my ears came forward: a muffled roar, familiar and yet terrible, all the same. I had little acquaintance with the water, but I glanced to the mare at the sound, hoping perhaps to see her roused. The length of our journey should have seen her drier if not dry, I thought, though I offered my side to her should she require support any longer. The effects of cold lingered even after all traces of harm had otherwise been scrubbed from the body – this I knew as an after-effect of trial and error. ”We may be near out destination yet,” I spoke aloud, shaking the worst of the concern from my head. I hardly knew her – why did I persist in caring so? ”Does it seem familiar to you?” In all honesty, the walk was longer than I may have hoped, and the weight of guilt gnawed here and there on my conscious – that I had been irresponsible, should have taken other steps. Different steps. Should have attempted something more back in the meadow… My tail twitched, irritated. Better if we had never met, at all.

      I left behind the trees at last for sandy soil, and before my eyes that vast expanse of blue: the sea. Something in me shivered and quailed in sight of its magnificence, but beyond that, I remarked with some satisfaction the sun felt warmer as it reflected off the pale earth. I stepped forward, blinking up and down the beach. ”Is this your home?” It smelled of no herd in particular; dismay wormed into my brain. Perhaps the salt obscured my senses; perhaps I was merely tired and wished to be in my own home, eating. I swung my head around at last in search of my companion, anxious – not for the first time.

      I realized, with a sharp pang of shock, I had never even bothered to learn her name.