The snow was deep, but she didn't notice as she shuffled forth through the forest. The wind was biting cold but the thick layer of jet black fur protected her from its savage teeth. Or, at least it should have. Lately Shadow had been feeling cold all the time, even when sheltered in dense copses of trees, pressed against her lovers warm skin. It was odd, but the mare blamed it on her own increasing age. What else could it be, when already her joints were aching and every scar both faded and new prickled and burned with every change in the weather?

She had other things on her mind as she wound her way between the trees, picking her way across the stone-strewn and snow-covered ground. A secret was sheltered within the folded wings, growing stronger and more real with every passing day. She could no longer attribute it to regained health and vigor, not when the ribs still lay too close to the dark skin, not when she ate and ate of the dry winter grass but never felt sated. This was not the season to swell and bloat from over-feeding - there just wasn't enough food around for that. No, there could only be one explanation as to why she was growing heavier, and the prospect both thrilled and terrified her, placing a heavy burden of increased responsibility on her shoulders. And guilt, towards the child she had still yet to find.

Most of all she wondered what Vadim would say. He had given her the impression that their relationship was temporary, something transient that was bound to unravel eventually. At first she too had been thinking the same, but the more Shadow pondered the tall stallion the less she felt like leaving his side. Oh, she wasn't the kind of mare to cling to him night and day - she was off on her own adventures every now and then, coming and going like a fickle wind, but it was always with the intent of returning. It was comforting, it was reassuring... At least it had been, until this new prospect had interrupted a well-kept order of mutual understanding.

She could feel her own heartbeat increase slightly as she entered the clearing where she usually found him, gleaming purple eyes searching for his now familiar frame. Tall among the tall trees, pale among the pallid snow and glittering icicles; eyes blue as the high winter sky, as capable of piercing her heart as the lethal horn on his brow.

"Vadim? We... eh... I need to talk to you."


@[Vadim]