we heal with love,

Hemlock returned Ouija’s yips with his own hoots - excitable ones each time she got close and joined him in his bouncing along. Occasionally the owl made a show of walking for a little bit - his tiny talons gripping at the sand as he waddled forward, before fluttering upward again but no more than a foot or so. He was enjoying this childish behaviour, enjoying the game, and was happy to leave Alysanne to her own thoughts while he and Ouija entertained each other.

Alysanne smiled warmly at Voodoo as he accepted the invitation to walk, and extended his own - offering to listen to her as they fell into step beside each other - an easy and slow gait. “Thank you, my dear.” And even though she was the one who suggested walking, she wanted nothing more than to stand still in that moment - to press her head into his skin and get lost in the wild curls of his mane, forgetting everything else. But she contented herself with a small laugh for him instead as her pale legs carried her forward and he tugged on her mane in a playful echo of their previous movements.

Her gaze shifted away, to the ocean and the brightening sky, and more steps passed in silence before she found her voice again. “I just… I don’t even know how to say it, or to explain.” She just didn’t talk about what was bothering her - she was always there to listen for others but when it came down to needing someone (or figuring out if she needed someone) to listen Alysanne was quite at a lost for what to do. “Everything has changed in these last few years and I no longer feel as though I can handle the change. It feels as though I am becoming lost - as though I don’t fit with what things are now in my home.” Change seemed like as simple of a way to put it without diving into the details.

She remembered so clearly the warm feeling of something new and exciting budding within her, an undeniable affection for the stuttering, beautiful stallion from the Throat. For he was indeed beautiful to her - the wild tangle of his mane, his soft voice, right down to his chipped hooves. And now still, her stomach fluttered ridiculously at his touch and his proximity, at her own words and how foolish they might sound to him.

But would he still be interested in being friends with her as she was now? An older, angrier version of herself - surely she wouldn't be as fun to be around. It was easiest for her to feel the difference when she was with someone who knew her before. Here, walking along the beach with Voodoo, she felt ashamed of who she had become. Did it show in her eyes when he looked into them, now that her smile had faded? The shadows of self doubt that had not existed there last time, flitting across those summer-green eyes as they were inevitably drawn back to him again.

“I’m a ghost of the mare you first met in the caves.”

alysanne