A family to meet.....[Cassandra, Swafi Jr & Dory]

[Sayuri_Nitta]

Swafi Jr had told his mother more than a dozen times over the last week about his plans to introduce Cassie to her - each time a little bit more had sunk in. He knew Dory was excited about the prospect of her son finding what she had lost, and it gave him a twinge of regret that his parents had not stayed together. He pushed that to one side though, really his nerves about meeting up with Cassandra again were his biggest worry. What if she never turned up?

As he got closer to where they had arranged to meet he realised that had been something he needn't have fretted about. He heard her first, calling from him and then her distinctive coat came into view. He realised that he had started smiling the moment he had heard her voice, and he got all nervous again as he walked up to the mare.
Don't screw this up! he scolded himself as he smiled at Cassie.

'You came.' he said, the relief easy to hear.  

[Sayuri_Nitta]

Swafi Jr found his nose was warming when Cassandra nuzzled against him, and then patted him with the loose waves of her tail.

'Well I was worrying..' he admitted with a bashful grin, managing to press into her neck with the tip of his soft and warm nose. He shook his head at her question;
'I made her wait at the beach , and her familiar is there as well to make sure she doesn't forget and wander off. It's easier for us to travel to my mother.'  

[Sayuri_Nitta]

Swafi Jr laughed a little;
'She wouldn't be either of those things - she doesn't really get scared or nervous of anything much. She doesn't have the memory for that. I just wouldn't have wanted to have to have left you to go find her if she did go wandering.'

He nodded, his nose going warm again at the words 'my dear', it felt very nice to hear someone call him that.

'Of course,' he said, and moved off, only pausing to make sure she was following him.  

[Sayuri_Nitta]

'When the fancy takes her yes, and of course she has no recollection of having gone off wandering before, so often she might be home one day and gone again the next after being back a very short time.' Swafi Jr replied, concentrating on not walking into the river as she teased him.

The water was widening, and flowing faster as it got closer to the mouth where it met the great expanse of the sea.

'No, no, just getting warm from the walk,' he said, not knowing how to respond to the gestures of affection she was making, especially whilst they were walking. They finally arrived on the beach proper, walking down the dunes, the sand sliding beneath hooves and he looked out along the shore for his mother's distinctive colouring.  

[Sayuri_Nitta]

'No? Well, you're obviously more skilled at travelling and keeping cool than I am.' he returned, smiling as he did so. It was hard; budding feels, and being embarrassed by them. So he didn't want to be teased too much, even if he knew she wasn't doing so to be cruel.

'There she is.' he nodded with his head at the blue, yellow and black mare, standing in the tidal surf.

'It might, if she remembered what she found out.' he said, leading Cassie to his mother.  

[Sayuri_Nitta]

He flushed again, but ignored it, concentrating at the meeting before him.

'I'll always think so too, but then she's my mother.' he said, with a son's pride. No matter how difficult growing up, or his mother's memory problems were, he'd never change her for anything.

'And so are you.' he nudged her encouragingly.
'She's very friendly, she'll be pleased to meet you.' he said, as they neared Dory, and she turned around with a beaming smile on her face as she saw Swafi Jr.

'My son.' she greeted him with a nicker, walking up and bumping her nose against his before stepping back and looking at the mare who was with him.
'I've not met you have I?' she asked, her head tilted to the side.  

[Sayuri_Nitta]

Swafi Jr thought it slightly strange that Cassandra was now the nervous one; it was a new feeling for him to be the confident one of the pair of them. He nodded over Cassie's head at his mother; he did think that he and Cassie could be mates, he was just worried about screwing it up.

'Hello Cassie,' Dory replied, a happy look on her face. Her son, had a mate! She could not have been more pleased if she'd found a way to fix her memory problems.

'Please call me Dory.' she asked of the younger mare.
'And forgive me if I forget your name, or why you're here at some point. It may happen. But, if you're going to be in my son's life from now on, hopefully I will remember you more and more each time we meet.'