What a foul mood to employ at all times; I did wonder if the mare ever smiled or laughed. I imagined she led a fairly casual life filled with anger and animosity… Obviously she was not a friendly creature, no matter her guest. I had attempted to thaw the thick layer of ice around her heart with humor and wild abandon, but nothing appeared to be working. Typical “mare” attitude if you asked me… “I’ll call you what you like December, White December, whatever… I’m not your enemy here.” My voice was unusually harsh in the wake of her continued dismissals and I had no intentions of sticking around for long if she intended to keep insulting me for trying to shelter myself not only from the cold but from the memory of my time out there on the plains.


When the mare’s shrubbery had finally been stripped clean of the browning leaves, she turned that cold stare back to me before lumbering back toward the overhang. I stepped aside to allow her inside but I did not remain. Instead, I shifted to the outer reaches of the ledge so that the snow began to fall softly along my back and rear. I considered myself to be a friendly brute, but if I had reason to behave otherwise, I would.

The dual-toned December shook herself free of the watery flakes that had accumulated across her hide in her time in the snow, but I had already steered clear of her attempts to upset me. She might’ve listened to my tales of woe and feigned alarm but everything she said lacked consideration or concern. Perhaps I would find Evangeline after returning to the Edge… her warmth and kindness would be much needed after spending a day with the cold...

However, a violent laughter erupted from my depths at the mare’s next question. She had no sense of manner or a decent personality to make up for it. My lips curled viciously upward in an attempt to hide the shivering scowl that longed to flatten my expression. She was rude. She was unperturbedly rude. “Tell me, if you went blind in one eye, would you cut it out?” I hissed venomously. My skin crawled for this girl and certainly not in a good way… No matter how good-humored my previous attempts at companionship had been, they were no longer such. My eyes would not find her anymore and when she tried to question me once more, I scoffed and evaded her as if the words had never been spoken.

Never in all my life had I thought someone to be so worthy of belonging to the Basin; whether it was as resident or slave, I didn’t care.