“A library trip together would be fantastic! I always try to make my brother come, but I know it bores him, and half the time he won’t stop complaining as long as there’s ears to hear it,” she laughed softly. “I’m going to start asking around for one. I really need to find some books on the inner workings of lighthouses, and maybe some beginner carpentry.”
She bobbed her head in a slow nod. “Something about that journal. . . I just knew it had to be true. Niro kept saying I was foolish, but something was right because he went along with it anyway, and we made it safe and sound, and not only that but we landed right in Jac’s own territory! It was like the heavens willed it,” her voice was soft and dreamy. “I suppose it could have backfired on us. There could have been no one here, or we could have arrived in the wrong place. And heck, there almost wasn’t anyone here, what with the shipwreck Jac and his crew were in! But yeah, being here. . . being almost anywhere has got to be better than there. I still don’t know why our parents took us to that damnable place to begin with,” a fragile concoction of anger and pain made her voice quiver. Her hand balled into a fist, and she stared blankly at the equine before her; it was the closest she had been to an emotional outburst in a long time. Taking a deep breath, she walked back to Ayita. The pattering of raindrops continued outside. She moved into the doorway next to her new acquaintance and peered outside, across the grass lawn and at the lounging Zafier. She chuckled to herself as she watched him out there, lying beneath the sprinkling night sky.
She listened intently as the auburn woman explained her own story in turn. At the mention of war, her ears laid back and eyes widened, sincere worry crossing her face. “Oh, that’s terrible. Well I’m glad both you and Zafier are safe. Do you think either of you will ever return to your pack back there, or are you here for good?” An eyebrow raised, and suddenly she realized that she had assumed Zafier was Ayita’s brother, but she was unsure that she had heard it said out loud. “You two are siblings, right?”
Again she looked away from Ayita to peer outside. The rain was becoming a bit more than a drizzle now. “I wonder if this is going to keep up,” she mused idly. “Or if we should get someplace a little less fit for horses and more fit for ourselves. . .” She glanced over her shoulder as a timely snort came from behind, as though a horse had been offended by her comment.