A pale-haired woman walked over a meadow. The woman was clad all in earthy, dark green, and her flaxen hair was loose about her shoulders. The meadow was yet asleep beneath winter's spell. The grass was brown and hard, and her boots left prints where bare soil showed through. Overhead, the sky could not decide whether it wished to be forlorn or hopeful. Patches of silver-grey clouds moved sluggishly over a backdrop of fresh-scrubbed blue, casting mammoth shadows over the rolling landscape. In the distance, great, dark mountains with snow on their peaks rose into the clouds and seemed to vanish.
In the woman's wake, a large stallion followed slowly behind, pausing often to graze at what fodder his lips could tear from the wintry ground. He did not hover close upon her, but kept her always in his sight.
The woman's steps led her down a gentle slope. At the lowest point, a line of gracefully bent willow trees grew, and they stretched towards the horizon in a meandering line like a march frozen in time. Here, she paused and bent down towards the earth, and saw that tiny, purple-blue flowers were clustered at the base of a willow tree. Miniature leaves of vibrant green adorned each blossom. She admired them without moving for a long while, and then, at length, she reached down to brush a fingertip over them.
It was at this moment that the horse gave a great snort, and lifted his head. The woman turned and stood up. The stallion swung his face to the north, and his nostrils flared as he drew in the air. She looked northward over the wind-rippled grass, but saw nothing. So she inspected the horse once more, examining him for signs of alarm or danger. He was tense, and still as stone. A portion of his hide twitched. But his ears were forward, and as she watched, his broad chest gave a soft, high-pitched wheeze. An eager noise.
The woman faced into the wind alongside the horse, but she caught no trace of whatever sound or scent had aroused him so. Still, as the chilled breeze lifted her hair and made it dance softly in the air behind her, she felt a curious expectation. She laid a reassuring hand upon the horse's shoulder, and smiled faintly.
