The Terminus Sea had quickly become one of her favorite places in the realm. It was as though her thoughts drifted away, out into the open waters and disappeared; her troubles and cares sinking like stones beneath the foamy waves until they were nothing but darkness amidst darkness. The salt would eat at them over time, grinding away until the there was nothing left at all. The breeze ruffled the feathers of her feet, brushing her hair against her shoulder like a lover's gentle caress as she lifted her head into the brine filled air.
It was a scent that she had never known before finding her way to the Dusk Court, sharp and distinct enough that it did not allow the creeping thoughts of home to climb across her consciousness like ivy vines. Her movement was slow among the rocks, careful to lift her feet so as not to trip on the various rocks scattering the sand in this particular area of the beach. Most of it was clear, making an easy path for one to run if they so wished, but Inara ventured closer to the tide pools and more secluded areas. It was here that she felt, perhaps, a deity might hide his precious relic.
The two others that she had arrived with, a stallion and a mare, were somewhere out there. They had been her guide and guardian, a trusted pair of friends from the old nation -- her mother's final parting gift to a daughter she had set free at last. She was not sure that they would stay with her forever, because even after many months of travel together they both held wariness towards her. Perhaps for her resemblance to her sire, or her lack of conversation with them. She simply was not sure what to say.
A lifetime of silence and seclusion had suddenly burst into absolute freedom, with no one or nothing to direct her path. She felt as though she had walked circles her entire life, only to be told to run in a single direction in a split second. And she supposed that she could have chosen to go back to her father, to follow through on his marriage arrangement to some unknown son of an unknown ally...but she found that she had not wanted it at all.
She relished in the freedom...even if she had no idea what do with it. Perhaps that was what drove her to search out the relic, a whisper among the courts. She needed something to give her an edge, to help her keep that precarious freedom she had found. Somewhere in her head, she knew it was entirely possible that her father was still looking for her -- and he would not hesitate to bring her back under his power. She had to find a way to make herself strong.
As the sun began it's descent below the sea, a slight movement caught her eye causing her to pause in her slow meander across the beach. Her ears twisted forward, attentive and alert as she lowered her heavy crown to investigate a seashell nestled between a pair of rocks. The shell was brilliantly colored, a combination of cream and swirling orange stripes, that twisted to a point and...it was moving. Once...twice, the shell rocked itself despite the lack of breeze this close to the ground. Inara regarded it with curiosity, slowly extending her muzzle to give the shell a small bump so that it rolled from it's wedged position and onto the sand before her. The shell, as if utterly shocked by the experience, froze...until something small and foreign to her began to crawl out and right itself.
Utterly fascinated by the tiny orange creature, the mare moved closer still, her auburn hair falling forward to brush along the sand and entangling the gritty pieces into the ends. The hermit crab froze again once it noticed the woefully large creature staring back at it, the pair locked in a stalemate of fear and curiosity.
ooc: first post with Inara! Feel free to join, and I'm sorry if it's a little rusty -- I haven't written horses in years it seems.
also pls ignore lack of coding, i'll find some eventually.
