AS TWO CUTS LIE
PARALLEL IN THE SAME FLESH
As O watches Bel look toward the water, she feels a pang in her chest—something like jealousy, or even concern. She has never seen (or felt) anything like that. Sure, she loves Solterra—she was carved from it, the sand and the sun and the soot—but she has never felt tied to the dunes like Bel seems to be tied to the water, never felt homesick on any of her trips outside the border. To see someone love a place so much makes her wonder if she’s missing out, as much as feel pity that anyone should be so tied down.
Far more importantly, you’re not as protected as I am from the cold. Fair enough. Even the slight burst of cold from the vapor that O passes her muzzle through makes her flinch in surprise. She can see from here that the texture of Bel’s skin and flesh is different from hers; as the older mare tells the story of her homeland, O’s initial suspicion at its truthfulness fades away, replaced by a genuine interest and below that, awe. She has not lived quite long enough to hear stories like these, and for all the strangers she’s met, all of them have come from Novus or a land more like it than not. No…aliens.
But it doesn’t bother her. O has always been too curious for her own good, and she’s not threatened as much as she is in awe. Her head tilts upward as Bel describes the phenomenon of lights, and though the real sky is perfectly clear and blue, in O’s head she can see them: ribbons of translucent pink and purple, bruisey patches of yellow, swirling and mixing, and beyond that the gentle flickering of stars, a reminder that in some places the world is still sane. “Wow,” she breathes, and blinks, and it’s all gone. Disappointment settles in her chest like a rock.
Would you like to walk with me?
She is surprised at the invitation. Most adults don’t like carting her around—though O has been independent since the day she was born, her obvious youthfulness has kept her pushed away from certain places and people. Not anymore. She grins: “Absolutely. And tell me all the stories you have.” She waits until Bel scrambles out of the water and back to her feet, and then with an excited wag of her tail, like a dog, takes off down the sand.
