Hetienne wondered if there was any way she could feel less awkward, foolish and above all nervous. She was standing in the appointed place, and had been so for some time, turning up early in fact, her jittery state had caused her Grandmother to exasperatedly shoo her off a lot earlier than necessary.
As the mare stood there, she thought back to what had bought her here, her tail plaited and decorated in summer flowers by the human that Ardia, her Great Grandmother knew, grass in her mouth that she had tried to eat tasting like ashes so that she had to discreetly drop it out.
Her Grandmother, Adrienne, had said that she'd recently had a visit with Ardia, and the matriarch of their family had something to discuss with Hetienne. Heading to see Ardia, felt a little like a summons and although she loved the Elder, she did feel daunted. A while later she had stumbled back off to see Grandma Adrienne, her head in a bit of a spin.
A blind date?!
The stallion sounded really nice, but she wasn't even sure what to think about meeting a strange stallion just because Great Grandmother Ardia felt that it was time Hetienne started her own family (which was true, she'd come to that conclusion herself, but still), and that as the Matriarch she felt it encumbent on herself to vet the prospective mates for her family line. And that (in Ardia's own words), she was sometimes that busybody old lady and did things for her own amusement.
So here she was. Waiting on a warm, summer morning, under a solitary apple tree that stuck out amongst the other nearby trees, and which was on a slight hill that overlooked a rolling meadow. She paced a little, taking breaths and wondering if it would be worse if he didn't turn up, or if he did and just walked off again after seeing her.
