and you, you knew the hand of the devil.
and you, you kept us awake with wolf’s teeth.

The battle was intense in itself. I had managed to strike the Tigress, dealing little to no damage but definitely feeling the bruising begin on my face. My joints ached, and when it was all over I really didn’t need to stay around. I had seen enough – not of the battle; but of death and heartbreak. However, these things were too close to home for me. Mauja, someone I had begun to look up to had just lost someone so close and dear to him. It was terrifying to think that it could have been any one of us to lose the other part of our souls. Whether it be partners or children. Then I remembered that gray mare that Tembovu had been so gentle with and it worried me.

I probably shouldn’t worry so much, but the look that crossed his face was a look that I knew. It was that particular look that gave life in my bones. The look that rejuvenated my soul after I had thought it was exhausted of all opportunity. That look that chilled my bones when I saw it focused on someone that wasn’t me. I began to think that maybe I was a little too naïve to believe that he could’ve chosen me of all horses. Me. I wasn’t anything special, just another face. Then I remembered that perhaps my fate was destined just as much as Caleb’s in the fact that love just didn’t work when it came to us. Maybe I needed to go talk with Caleb and just avoid this place for a long time.

I turned away from the God, feeling my headache disperse and all things attached with the black lung gone, I didn’t want to see anything else. I missed what had happened after I struck the Tigress with my hooves. I turned heel and began to walk away. I didn’t need to stay. There wasn’t a good enough reason to keep me surrounded by this. I waded into the water, about chest deep before I heard a loud booming voice.

‘You’re kidding me, right?’

My ears flattened slightly, my face bruising vibrantly. The golden horn that jutted out from my face had been accompanied by a redder and nearly purple coloring under my pale pelt. My neck craned ever so slightly as I looked to see who spoke my name. Though, when I saw I wasn’t surprised. I turned my head back forward, debating on whether I should continue to go forth and just disappear or at least listen to him. I figured listening would be the best option as of now, since he was kind enough to listen to my affair. So with a heavy sigh, I turned and walked further back to the shoreline, water dripping from my chest and neck ever so slightly. The liquid translucent in the comparison of the crimson blood that dripped from the elephant. Anger pushed aside for mere moments – replaced by concern. I rushed closer to him, reaching my nose out to touch his neck gently. Then remembering that she had probably done something similar, I pulled my head away after the act and let my blue eyes search his. And one question was all I could muster from the cluster of questions that filled my brain.

“Why?”

"Talk?"