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A cold gaze watched the newcomer idly once the mare’s nerves had calmed down. She noted his pause and strange glace at her whispered sound of silence to those blasted voices in her head. Pale brows gently lift towards the sky, Epona pondering over the thought of explaining her utterings to the boy. Oh no, there is no need for that. The painted roan had to agree. There was no reason to let on to this new stud just how critical the mare’s mental state was. No need to let him see just how far she dangled over the edge of insanity, held on by a thread from her past that was wearing dangerously thin. Laughter bubbled up from inside the mare, rolling past her alabaster lips. He’ll think you’re mad. At this the mare ceased her laughter, though a few sputtering giggles still emerged from her maw.
The stallion’s deep voice once more broke through the silence that seemed to shroud the pair, uttering his name. Torleik. Strange. The voices were right, in none of her travels had the mare met another with such a name, though she had never been granted the privilege of meeting one with hers, so she wasn’t truly one to speak. The mare tipped her head once more to the beast, a light smile playing upon her trickster lips. ”A pleasure, I’m sure. Her voice was like velvet, the siren song that she used to lure stallion’s to her web. But this stallion was not for luring. Sure, he was a handsome brute and maybe on a different occasion such a fancy would strike her and she would wish to play one of her games with him. But not today, she needed something from him of a different sort.
Epona noticed his dodging of her previous statement of her flinching, as if he believed it to be a natural occurrence. He would be right. Ears flick backwards at the voices before flipping towards the stallion once more. In truth, he would be; though Epona did not wish to admit so to herself. Through her trip into the bowls of hysteria the mare had acquired quite the jumpy nature. Mostly it was due to the voices that hounded her night and day. They would convince Epona that something was after her, causing the mare to believe it heart and soul; so she would jump at every noise made. Other times the mare would get so lost in heated conversation with the voices that she would not notice the approach of another being, their voices ripping her from her own thoughts and giving her a start. But the mare was not weak, though her strength was not in her nerves; no it lied in other, better, places.
As the stallion spoke once more the mare’s elegant lips lifted upwards into a cool smirk. He was from the Basin, and the stallion was offering her residence there. ”Ah, just the herd I was hoping for. Oh the blessed cold that you possess there, reminds me of another time, a good time.” The mare became lost for a moment, thinking of the past life that she had lived, how it had been filled with happiness and light; much different than the darkness she now drifted through. A true smile fluttered onto her lips at these thoughts, though it was soon ripped away. That is all gone now. We lost that happiness long ago. They were right, and it did not do well to dwell on things that were lost with no hope of ever returning.
The mare was just able to catch the end of the beast’s speech, his lyrics telling the mare that The Basin was no place for freeloaders, that she must be useful. Ears jolt back to her skull, a deep frown setting onto her face. Is he that insolent? How dare he accuse us of wanting a free ride! Does he believe us to be incapable?! Did she really look as if she were a horse who wished to just sit idly by and let every other equine do her work for her? She had never been that beast, and The Gods forbid she ever would. But, it was of good judgment to make this known. Perhaps the stallion was in the right by saying this. Epona knew of many equines who would wish just to waste their lives away performing nothing more than work of their own good. So, with a small snort the mare chose to let his statement go; ears flicking upwards once more, lips returning to their cold straight line.
”Why would one wish to join a land that they had no part in? Why would one sit idly while their fellow members toiled away? I assure you, I am not one to do so.” Her words were true, spoken with the strong pride that flowed through her veins. The elegant mare was not afraid of hard work. That was what it would take for her to get where she wanted to be, on top of the world, and so that was what she would give. Epona had heard the stallion speak of how she must have some type of skill that she could contribute to the herd. The mare was not the sharpest tool in the shed, nor was she kind hearted, but she did have some things to share. ”Sir, I do not claim to be the best in any field. But I am strong. Both in heart and in body.”But of course not in mind. I have many skills in battle that have been worked upon for years.”One must be able to battle to take down prey.”I am loyal. No greater tie is of that than from me to my fellow members.”Except for that time when you ate all of your family members… Epona dismissed this thought, the had already fallen. She did that to survive. But there was a time before that accident when nothing meant more to the mare than family. She would have given herself up just to save one of her herd members that day, and she would still do that now. The mare thirsted for power, this was true. But she would never deny a fellow equine the right if they had earned it. She would never dethrone her own leader, or friend, just for the lust of being high up. She was all of the things that she spoke, and so the mare hoped it would be enough to gain entrance into the place that reminded her so much of her past life; though the stallion did hold an unsure gaze on her pelt.
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