Her only chance. [Zeph]

[skibbereenfarms]

ILINA.
second best.

She normally didn't get many opportunities like this, but for once her father actually wanted to be left alone. He wanted time to think and plan, he informed her, and apparently being alone was the only way he'd be able to get any work done. It's not like she would object...no, it's not like she could object without being harmed in some way. She couldn't say that her father despised her, but he didn't exactly love her as his own either. He acted more as though she were an adopted daughter; part of the family, but somehow unattached. She just had to live with it. However, she wasn't about to let all of these thoughts of her father spoil this chance to explore the land that she had been living on for quite a while. Despite this, she knew nothing about it, and fortunately she was able to relieve some of her curiosity before she went off without Dieter's permission. She wouldn't even bother with thinking of what would happen as a result of that. The consequences of her actions wouldn't trouble the mare today.

Even with the mood being a bit less tense today, Ilina had to remain on guard in order to protect herself. She'd always have to do this; her creamy-blue right eye was about as much explanation as she needed. Her right ear always overworked so that she could be aware of what was approaching or near on her right side. Probably the only positive about the blindness in her right eye was that she couldn't always see her scarred legs. Through reflections from water and her father's words, she concluded that they were pretty bad, though they weren't actually as terrible as she thought. This didn't stop Ilina from seeing herself just as her father had made her out to be; a burden. Her scars were a constant reminder of the forest fire that had taken sight in her right eye when she was just a filly. Her sister had so much potential, at least according to Dieter, and Ilina was on the road to becoming a great herd mare. That fire changed everything; it tore her mother from her and thrusted her into her father's possession. Since then he hasn't been exactly ecstatic about it.

No more getting lost in a train of thought, she decided. This was her day. She could do whatever she wanted. Instead of running far away as she probably should have, the mare made her way to the nearby lake to have a quick drink so that she wouldn't have to see herself in the reflecting water. She flinched slightly whenever she heard a noise near her right side, spinning herself around entirely so that her good eye could scan the area and make sure that nothing harmful was around. Once she had a moment to calm herself, she'd turn back in the direction she was headed and move onward. On the way, she found herself examining the trees and the sky, and all of the worries in her life disappeared for a few moments. There were not too many noises besides the occasional squirrel and the birds in the trees. It was truly a relaxing day for the mare who couldn't rest for even a brief moment in her life.

[Xenan]

Large stallion of pure muscle under a pelt of two-toned pattern meandered on his way to nowhere in particular. His mood this day was almost as calm as the chilled breeze that caused the dying grass to flitter, too dry to roll and wave in its usual lushness. The summer, it seemed, had been too hard on the vegetation that year; the rains had not come often enough. In the distance, the trees of the forest to the southeast, and even the few trees that shaded the plains here and there bore leaves of changing colors. Reds, oranges, and yellows were progressively taking over the bits of green that still remained upon the branches. Zephiathon snorted loudly. What did he care about the beauty of his surroundings? All this season reminded him of was the year he’d been born. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than a gust of cool wind from the north sent dead leaves dancing across his path, just as they had eight years ago this month. Ears going flat, one thick feathered leg lifted and extended before he rapidly lowered his great hoof down upon a few of them. Satisfied with the dry, crunching sound his action had made, the painted brute continued on his way.

He had come from his home back in the Meadows and specifically, the Western Forest. There he had come in contact with her. Miesque. While his time with her had been brief, it had been enough for her to somehow worm her way into the part of his mind that actually gave a crap about others in this world. In doing so, she had unknowingly set off emotions he hadn’t realized he still possessed. She had him utterly curious, confused about himself and his actions, frustrated, and other more softer emotions that he didn’t dare name. And all of it combined in him to become plain, unadulterated anger. She had him wanting to figure her out, and he had realized he’d even unintentionally decided to be the one to give her whatever it was she wanted- though he still wasn’t even sure what that was exactly. One thing was certain: soon, no doubt she would be carrying his child. As his seed now lived within her. Everything, all of it, had him pissed off to the point where it took him running through the meadows and watching a thunderstorm just to calm him down enough not to break something, or someone. Even an experience- for lack of a better term- with another draft stallion named Constantinus, who had frankly creeped him out with his open flirtation with another male such as he, hadn’t managed to purge that hotblooded little femme from his mind. Zeph definitely had a crush on her, and even now, he caught his own icy blue gaze seeking out her beautiful little frame, bay coat splashed with only a little white, and expressive brown eyes. And he hated himself for it. Somehow he was convinced she’d only wanted to use him, and his unwanted feelings for her were just moot. So now, as he had aimlessly walked onto the grassy plains in the home turf he had claimed for himself here in the Valley, the colossal brute actively sought something to further take his mind off things.

The breeze that persevered over the lands, attempting to bring the temperature down a notch or two, toyed with the ends of the stallion’s heavy masses of hair. His mane of black and white reached all the way down to his knees, ebon forelock thick enough to cover his eyes most of the time- though somehow he managed to see through it, and long tail of white with a thin line of black was long enough for a few inches to slide over the grass behind him as he walked. As thoughts began to trail once more, Zeph gave a low and deep rumble, kicking his pace up to a majestic prance. His collected trot had every solid muscle that framed all eighteen hands of him rippling with every motion, thick neck arched in so that his chin nearly touched his chest. Black ears flicked this way and that to take in every sound aside from the constant thud of his heavy hooves upon the earth, pinkened nares flared to take in every scent. It wasn’t long for him to smell the freshwater of the lake that resided just as he remembered at the base of the vale. However, that wasn’t the only fragrance that reached him, and as the lake came into view so did that of a predominantly black mare with the only white shown to him splashed upon her left ear. All Zeph could see of her from his distance was that her figure was quite a bit stockier than the other mare’s. You willna compare her to that female. He thought as he mentally kicked himself for doing so. His objective here was to get his mind off her, after all.

He watched as the unknown mare lowered her head to take a drink before starting off again, but wasn‘t fully intrigued about her until something caught her attention and she whipped fully around to inspect whatever it had been. Curious, but desiring to quench his thirst, the massive stallion extended his trot to reach his destination at a little quicker rate. Arriving in no real time at all, Zeph slowed back to a walk as he neared the lake. Watching her curiously for a moment, he stepped to the bank and dipped his head down to take in the cool, refreshing liquid. As always, the tips of his forelock and mane draped down and onto the surface so that when he raised his skull again, the strands dripped water down the sides of his face and down his leg. Resisting the urge to shake the droplets from his face, Zeph turned to see the black fae walking with an aura of relaxation around her. Drawn to her, the black and white steed released a deep whicker, masculine to the core, before approaching her with his own presence as calm as he could make it. Tipping his head so that his forelock shifted to the right side of his face, baring only the left eye of bright azure, he stopped when he was a good distance behind and to the left of her. ”’Lo, lass.” He said, tones deep and smooth. Hesitating only a moment to see if she would stop, he asked, ”Tis a fine day to relax, eh?” His Scottish accented words totally belied his true thoughts on the day’s conditions, but he couldn’t think of anything better to say.

{ooc: got crappy there at the end.. tired lol ><}

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