GHOST of winter.

[Corowa]

Morning came to the mountains. The skies lightened, outlining the scrub and timber that lined the rim of the basin. Somewhere in the trees below a bronze cuckoo called, the bush silent after the fierceness of the blizzard. A mob of kangaroos bounded past, and Myrrina threw up her head and whinnied. For a moment the mob was visible between the trunks of the snow gums, and then they were gone from sight, all but vanishing into the bush.

Myrrina sensed that Tingara was troubled. He seemed wearied somehow, but he did not graze, turning from the grass so that the mare wondered if he was sick. "Foolish one, you must eat or you will die," Myrrina told him. It was the way of the bush, the way of the high country that soon enough there would be no food and then there would be death, brought on those cold winds that blew from the south.

"These mountains are all that I have known," Myrrina said. "I know the secrets of this bush, and I know that it is not a place for brumbies. It is too wild to ever be tamed." Yet the mare wondered at this stallion. For he told of mountains that were not her own, and it made her anxious. When a flock of gang gangs screeched, Myrrina started, trembling and uncertain. She could feel her heart thudding in her chest, and she blew through her nostrils, moving out from the cover of the eucalypts to stand in the sunlight.

[tingara]

"You are indeed wise beyond your years," Tingara chuckled. He noticed Myrrina start at the flock of gang-gangs that had flown over and nickered reassuringly. Tingara followed her out of the cover of tree and felt the tremendous warmth from the sun hit his ebony coat. Myrrina didn't have this heat trapping advantage and he moved closer to share the warmth.
"You are right, I should eat," he lowered his head through the snow and to the grass, more to please the mare than his hunger. Soon Tingara grew bold and let slip, "Would you like to come with me? I can show you the mountains beyond this place."
As quick as this remark had left his tongue he wished he could take it back. Tingara felt his face flush hot but he smiled bravely at Myrrina, resisting the urge to bury his head in the snow from embarrassment.

[Corowa]

Myrrina turned to see that the stallion had followed. He came to stand near her, and the mare felt a shiver of excitement run through her as he crept closer. Comforted by him, Myrrina reached up and nibbled at his mane. Like all brumbies, his coat was thick and smelt of mud and sweat. It had indeed been a hard winter for the wild ones. As Tingara lowered his head and grazed, the mare worked her way down his neck, to his shoulder. With a tender nicker, she gave the stallion a firm nudge, as a mare would to a foal, and then dropped her head to graze beside him.

But the stallion seemed preoccupied, and confused Myrrina turned to him. Yet when he spoke his words were gentle and the mare faltered, overwhelmed by the strangeness of it all. For a moment she was torn. To follow Tingara, to be the mare of such a stallion would mean leaving the lake and its secrets behind. But though Myrrina would mourn the loss of those frozen waters, the mountains pulled and the stallion drew her. "I will follow you," she said, resting her head across his withers in a brief show of trust. "I will make you proud to have claimed me."

ooc: so not worth the wait. but it's done

[tingara]

Tingara smiled and nuzzled Myrrina warmly.
"There is no need to make me proud of you in my herd, I already am," he knew many stallions would say the same but, unlike them, he was sincere. Tingara saw Myrrina look back to the lake.
"Don't worry, now that it's getting warmer, we will come back."
Tingara also felt that they didn't need to leave straight away. He was content to just stay up here and graze alone in the presence of his new companion.

.:Ooc: What do you mean Corowa!? That post was defiantly worth the wait! *hugs XD*:.