The Academy: breaking dawn;

We have come to the edge of the woods,
out of brown grass where we slept, unseen,
out of knotted twigs, out of leaves creaked shut,
out of hiding.
- Louise Erdrich
Each step was timid - hesitant - full of uncertainty, and though she could feel a strange calm in the air, it felt as though it was the calm just before a storm.

Tick had come as far as he could but did not trespass upon these green paths of enrichment and enlightenment. She had hesitated and he touched his nose to hers, blowing out breath after breath to calm her and inspire courage in his frail, strangely shy sister. “Zesab,” he uttered for the first time in a long time, her secret name - not the names they used with one another and everyone else every day. Her eyes had met his, their faces inches apart though their eyelashes could have caught - tangled, and their eyes fluttered close together as she shuddered, inhaling a deep and unsatisfying breath that could not pacify the fear springing up in her heart.

He’d said, “I cannot go farther, this is where we must part.” and Nettle had sighed, full of regret but trusting that after scant hours spent here, she would return to his side. Perhaps others could not understand but they - not twins but siblings still - had never spent more than a few moments apart from one another in their entire lives, that to be thrust apart now by the strange summons of something unseen but felt… it was almost too much for her but she managed a weak smile at her brother and touched his pale cheek. “Wait for me?”

She saw him promise to do so in his eyes - they hardly needed words to communicate with one another, but she took strength from his gaze and turned down the first of the green trails that smelled of rich earth, as well as the peace and perfume of many flowers. But she was still timid - still hesitant, as she came forth and edged deeper into this sanctum of wisdom. She felt though, as if a part of her was missing the whole time she was there and it was true, for Tick was closer to her than anything and had always been so for the entirety of her life, that to begin this undertaking alone - without his shoulder to steady her - struck fear into her heart but she still found some kind of inner strength to rely on, though she could not say she took much joy in her surroundings, not at the moment, but perhaps later, when she grew more comfortable here.

Nettle was not observant and did not notice the other mare until they stood facing one another and for a moment, confusion flashed in her face and she almost thought this mare was… Raven! But no, it wasn’t her as the painted mare was much taller and already introducing herself, so she could not be Raven but Nettle smiled back, her shyness and fear disarmed by the smile (and whether it was true or not, to Nettle, a smile was still a smile and that meant something). “And even that you should not know,” but she laughed too. “I go by Nettle, not Zesab as very few know that name or should know it.” Though Nettle supposed that there were no secrets here, not between teachers and their students, or there shouldn’t be she surmised.

“There isn’t much to tell though, I am new here as is my brother though he seems better at establishing himself amongst the spies and our herd. He worries about me though, sometimes unfairly so because he holds me back from accomplishing things myself. I think he’s afraid to let go, or that in the letting go he’ll lose me, if that makes sense.” She wasn’t sure if it did or not but smiled all the same.