There was a pit in her stomach when they reached the other side of the structure leading onto South Ronaldsay proper. She had often felt a sense of unease on return, a sense of not belonging, but never anything like this. She could only imagine how it had to be for Solstice right then, under the gaze of two members of her tribe.

Apparently not too bad as it turned out a few moments later. Maybe her instruction to act like having a slight limp prevented his jumpy mind to concentrate on worrying? When he drew even with her after walking single file over the dam, she noticed that it looked very convincing. He also got the appropriate distance just right.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she took a few more steps onto their home soil and stopped. When Solstice had stopped on equal height, three quarters of a length away; she collected herself, arched her neck a little and waited for the two sentries to approach.

The grey mare and brownish black stallion walked up to her and bowed respectfully. “[Welcome home scout Buidhe, niece of Faoileag,]” the mare said in a formal tone.

“[Greetings,]” she intoned and nodded to them, “[To what do I owe the honour of an escort?]”

“[Your uncle expects your long absence to have an important reason that he is eager to learn about. He sent us to lead you home without delay.]”

It took some conscious effort to keep her ears from flicking about nervously. She collected herself and lifted her chin for a brief moment.

The grey mare stood at ease at the gesture but did not take her eyes off of her. The stallion on the other hand was openly staring at Solstice after standing up from his bow. She could not really blame him; in fact, she admired the grey mare's self-control in the face of such temptation. The little scene put her at ease, at least for the moment.

She coughed politely, making the stallion flinch and snap his gaze back to her. She gave him an encouraging little smile and turned to her travelling companion, thus allowing the two others to finally do the same. Luckily, Solstice had already experienced her acting formal when he stepped onto their soil the first time a little while ago, if only very briefly.

After introducing her guest, the two Iceland ponies bowed to Solstice in the same manner as to herself. Luckily he did not return the bow or react emotionally but just nodded lightly in response, the same way she had done. Clearly he could be a lot more attentive and quick on the uptake than she had thought and also more than he gave himself credit for.

Still, seeing the smaller, multicoloured stallion with the wild mane and the too large eyes of a strange colour act stately, with as much self-control as he could muster in the spontaneous setting, was almost comical. At least it would have been, had she not been genuinely proud of him right then.

'Solstice' proved to be difficult to pronounce for a tribal tongue, a little thing that seemed to take a lot of tension away from him. There was even a little upward twitch at the side side of his mouth.

She had to smile at the surprise on the faces of their escorts when he returned the simple greeting in quite passable Whinny. He even mimicked her own gesture of briefly lifting the chin afterwards to release them from their bow.

In front of herself they would more have felt than seen the movement above their heads, yet when Solstice performed it, he did so at little more than eye height. It effectively forced them to make eye-contact with one of superior rank while bowing.

It was all she could do to not burst out laughing at her poor fellow tribe members, who Solstice unknowingly and inevitably made commit a major breach of protocol, simply by acting precisely the way a higher ranking tribe member would have done. At the last possible moment before the customary formalities were concluded at that.

“Buidhe, what did I do?” her companion asked in an insecure tone when he noticed the miserable expressions the other two were wearing.

“Nothing. You did very good.”

“Really?” He cleared his throat. “I don't want these two to feel bad about some trivial misstep on their side that I didn't even notice.”

“Not trivial.” Her serious tone was mellowed by a little smile. “Just tell them to not worry.”

He did so in not too mangled Whinny and they actually gave him a second brief bow, their whole body language speaking of relief. Having their escorts look impressed by the messenger, she mused, would make introductions much easier. A little smile played over her muzzle when they set off in formation, their two guides in front and they themselves a length behind and apart from each other.

“Buidhe? Can they understand anything of what we're saying?”

“No. I will warn you if one can. And uncle can not.”

While he gave a sigh of relief, she noted with dismay that she had drifted closer to him while talking then was proper. Or would have, had he not painstakingly kept them at the required distance by swerving to the left, so that they now were walking half a yard offset to their guides. She quickly returned to her place and hoped he would not notice her embarrassment.

Solstice also kept up his slight limp for the next half hour or so which delayed their progress a good deal. She was simultaneously impressed by, thankful for and annoyed by his performance, the latter because it gave herself more time to become nervous. He even seemed to have forgotten the constant drizzle. His mind probably had no capacity left to also pay heed to that.

When he was done limping, she decided to pass the time by having him repeat some of the knowledge on tribal customs and especially how he was to behave on meeting the chieftain. By then, his calm and her own inability to mimic it was almost irksome.

They turned south to follow the road along the bay of St Margaret's Hope, South Ronaldsay's largest former settlement and the only one really deserving of the title. Sheltered by shallow hills that surrounded the grey town and bay, it had weathered time's passing in relatively good shape. It resembled Stromness in many ways, with the difference of being much smaller and not looking lived in.

The drizzle had stopped and so had the wind, yet the grey sky and sea seemed to merge in the distance, smudging the horizon. Her companion gave a sharp intake of breath when they finally crested the hill and the land stretched out beneath them towards the coastline in the west.

Upwards of three hundred Iceland ponies were slowly drifting across the meadow. The herd was made up of some thirty bands with up to a dozen members that kept close together while a few could be seen walking to and fro between the little congregations. Several of those she new to be good friends out for a little chat, others were likely mares discussing a gathering of some sorts between families.

There were also a mare and a stallion awkwardly walking alongside each other, still at the proper distance but just one angled hoof away from something more. If the mare deemed it a good decision that was – and had the nerves to follow through with it out in the open.

They all meandered through the small gaps and pathways between the more defined groups. From afar, it looked like a slow dance that was only broken here and there by foals who didn't know and didn't care where they ran yet.

She noticed how Solstice had gone completely still at the sight, staring down at what had to look like complicated chaos to him.

“Welcome home Buidhe,” the grey mare said with a friendly smile and stepped to the right. The stallion followed her example and walked up close to his companion.

So she'd offered somewhen in the past fortnight and these two had finally found together? Took them long enough, she mused with a smile. Unlike her own approach. Her smile turned nervous. “Thank you. And congratulations!” She swallowed.

“Thank you! Mother was very pleased,” the mare told her happily. “We will be off then, if you do not have further need of us. Your family is right over there.” She flicked her head towards the largest group that also was the closest.

Their two escorts bowed to her, yet it was not nearly as formal or deep a bow than the one they received at first introductions. When it was Solstice's turn though, they seemingly wanted to leave a good impression by making something of a show of it.

Their bow was deeper than the one they had given her and also performed slower and with more accuracy. They also tried hard to not look the small stallion in the eyes. Solstice played along with it, pointedly looking down when he lifted his chin very slowly so as to give them the second they needed to get over eye height again.

This time she openly stared at him as he stood there and bid the two farewell in a friendly voice that lacked all its usual upbeat quality.

“[Who are you and what did you do to Solstice?]” she hissed. “[How can you be so calm and so... so in control?!]”

“Easy,” he said in a strained voice, “I've been considering different ways of killing Dawn.” Then a too bright smile lit up his face before he exclaimed “Let's go meet your uncle!”

A hundred yards could not possibly stretch for this long. Why in the name of Teacher was she this apprehensive? She had not done anything that broke tradition! She had achieved something potentially very important. Right now that achievement was walking beside her. An emissary!

But not just that. It was not as if anybody was able to read her mind? He was acting exactly the way he should, much better than she had feared. In fact, better than herself. She had not done anything forbidden! She felt her ears beginning to splay back and quickly arched her neck a tiny bit to counter the motion. It worked, to her immense relief, finally some self-control. She got her breathing under control as well.

Her youngest brother and her older sister and one of her sister's foals were looking her way and had certainly seen the display Solstice had received. They all whinnied a friendly greeting which she happily returned. It helped her to relax further.

Now she had everyone's attention, but that did not last for more than a few seconds, since a moment later they were all openly staring at Solstice, some of them with their mouth agape. She heard his breathing quicken as he tensed up and had the distinct impression that his muzzle had become paler, as impossible as that should have been.

A stoutly built stallion came walking over from the far side of the group, a lopsided yet friendly smile on his muzzle. The others parted smoothly to let him through. Faoileag was an unremarkable individual, his smudgy orange coat and brown mane and tail made him blend in with any group. His presence, though, did not.

“[Stand back you lot and give these two some space to breathe,]” he chuckled in a gravelly voice. His gaze did linger on her companion long enough for her to recognize his surprise and curiosity, but she truly admired his composure even when faced with the more bizarre. Was that mean? Well, in this setting, Solstice certainly was bizarre.

“Gairghean,” he addressed Buidhe with a warm voice that contained some firmness as well and nodded to her.

Buidhe gave a very slight bow and replied “Bràthair-màthar,” with a timid undertone she failed to suppress and which she knew he noticed. She mentally kicked herself when she saw him cock his head for a second.

“[It is good to have you back Buidhe.]” He gave her a friendly and entirely too long look. “[But I see you have brought a guest as well.]”

Buidhe cleared her throat and cast a quick glance at her companion who stood very still, except for his ears that where flicking about nervously. “[Faoileag, this is Solstice Spirit, brother of Chieftain Dawn Horizon from Stromness.]”

Faoileag raised his eyebrows but nodded courteously. “Well met, Solstice of Stromness. Good you come, talk,” he said with a little smile.

She heard Solstice gasp while she just stared in disbelief at uncle, whose smile was gradually turning into an almost grin while his eyes sparkled with mirth. Then she remembered that she was not done yet.

She tried and failed to keep her voice from wavering. “[S... Solstice, this is Chieftain Faoileag of South Ronaldsay.]”

Solstice blinked his large eyes that conveyed far too much emotion for a setting like this. It took two endless seconds for him to react, then he bowed a little shakily and a little too deeply, making her wince.

“[Greetings, Chieftain,]” the slightest of pauses, “[Faoileag of South Ronaldsay.]” He took a deep breath, seemed to rally himself and spoke again, very carefully “[Is good, meet you.]”

Faoileag looked surprised for a moment and then chuckled. “[So, two can play this game, mmm? You impress me, son. So. I talk slow, simple. You talk slow, simple. No... hm... double meanings.]”

Her companion swallowed visibly, but at least his ears were pointing forward again. “Thank you, Chieftain. Guess we'll be able to get this done... uhm... sorry. I mean: can do that.” He gave a timid smile.

She almost sagged with relief. He did it. He got through that part without offending anyone or making a fool of himself, much against her expectations. 'How much credit you give him,' she scolded herself. The rest should not be so difficult, now that she could help him.

“[...and say... difficult(?)... in English?]” she heard Solstice say in a hopeful voice, still in Whinny.

“[No need. We speak our own language. It will be fine,]” Faoileag replied matter of factly.

She shook her head and went to fall in line beside uncle and her emissary. The former turned his head and gave her a stern look.

“[Were you not listening Buidhe? You are not needed for this conversation.]”

'What'? She stopped up short and blinked at her Chieftain.

“[There will be time for us to talk later. Do not feel set aside, I am curious about many things. Now go and give your family some company.]” He gave her a little smile, though his tone made it clear there would be no arguing about this.

She watched the two walk away towards the ridge of the hill, where everyone was sure to notice Faoileag having a conversation with a peculiar stranger while also being out of earshot by a long way.

Solstice kept the exact distance and position that she had taught him to be required, even though he had to fall into a slow trot to keep pace with Faoileag's long strides. It made him look so very small, inexperienced and out of place beside the self confident leader. She desperately wanted to give him a long, warm and reassuring nuzzle.

“[That one sure looks weird,]” her older sister good-naturedly commented from behind in a bemused voice. “[Cute, in a way. Strange to send a colt as messenger though.]”

She came very close to biting her.

About an hour later Faoileag came back with an exhausted and unhappy looking Solstice who was immediately swarmed and obscured by the other members of her family. A lean stallion with a coat and mane the colour of dark rust positioned himself between them and the messenger. Her youngest brother Ruadh, seemingly assigned as guard.

On the one hoof she could understand their curiosity, on the other she would very much have liked some alone time with him then.
Instead she got alone time with her uncle.

It took close to an hour to give him the abridged version of the events around Stromness that had led to her bringing back a messenger. She carefully left out the more personal details concerning herself, Dawn and his brothers though.

Her uncle looked thoughtful. “[So Dawn Horizon has yet to secure his position and is only now trying to get his brothers' support? How can he claim to be chieftain then?]”

“[His father is seen as a legend by his tribe whose word still is not disputed by the great majority. And he chose Dawn because he has wings like he had.]”

Faoileag snorted. “[Unwise.]”

“[Dawn did not even want his new rank.]”

He lifted his eyebrows at that. “[Impressively unwise.]”

Somehow she felt the need to defend the young leader. “[He works very hard and has now won over his older brother Moorland Song.]” Faoileag cocked his head at her assertive expression.

“[I see he has won you over too. As has his messenger I dare say, the way you seem to care for him,]” he said with a chuckle. “[Oh do not look so alarmed Buidhe. Why should I object to you making friends with an emissary? Quite the contrary. I was merely amused.]”

She tried to bring her breathing back under control and get her tail out between her legs again. “[I apologize for making such a scene of it.]” She hung her head.

“[Do drop it dear Buidhe. I was not being entirely fair to the both of you,]” he said with a friendly grin, one that finally made her stop sweating. “[I was not going to let an opportunity like this pass me by. Apologies for doing so at your expense.

He has a good head on his shoulders when you look past his appearance. Quick thinker, even if he's still easy to wrong-foot. Can adapt. Loyal. I can see his brother is a good judge of character.]” He looked pleased with himself and the world in general.

A little smile crept unto her lips. “[So what happens now?]”

“[I planned to take us north past the Black Bay in three weeks time and give our pastures around here time to recover before winter; that should be just right to make them have the best condition before the first snow. We still need to weed them as well.

There is also a lot of shelter for the young ones up there on Burray. So I suggested to meet on our northernmost island by that time.]”

Her ears perked up. “[You think something could come from this?]”

“[Mmmm... things seem to have changed a lot. We just need to wrap up some old grievances I guess. Lay the old times to rest the old way,]” he said with a contemplative smile before continuing in a much more serious and determined voice, “[I will be looking forward to it.]”

The morning was wet and cold after a stormy night with torrential rain, but the sky had cleared in the small hours and promised a bright and pleasant day. With the wind that had turned from southwest to south came wispy clouds and calm weather. It made her look forward to the journey.

She had spent the night huddled together with her family in the shelter of the little woodland adjoining the open meadow. Solstice on the other hand had been given a resting place in the only dilapidated building nearby that still sported three walls and a mostly intact roof and dry floor.

Shaking the wetness out of her coat, she walked over and bid the honour guard Faoileag had assigned him a good morning. It consisted of her surly second cousin and an equally grumpy Ruadh, both wet and cold from having spent the night without a warm body to lean or lie against and with the only shelter being the roof's short and leaky overhang.

The guard was another old tradition. Faoileag seemed to relish the opportunity to bring out all the anachronisms he could think of for the occasion of having an important guest. Whether he meant to impress or intimidate she was not sure of, yet she was quite certain the effect on Solstice was the latter.

He lay in the middle of the large room that formed the entrance, curled up against a wooden counter and looking uncomfortable. It occurred to her that he in all likelihood felt more imprisoned than honoured. Definitely cold though. She sighed, he wasn't used to something like this after all.

“Good morning, Solstice Spirit,” she called out in a reserved voice. “You slept well?”

He opened an eye and scowled at her before he seemed to remember where he was. “'Course I did,” he grumbled and stiffly rose to his hooves. The floorboards that were covered in blown-in leaves (which he had made a kind of nest from) creaked under his weight. “At least better than those two I guess.”

“Look at good side,” she intoned in a formal voice, certain that the two others could not understand her. “Kept away my family.”

“Heh. True that. That little one kept prodding me until I shoved him away real hard. Guess he wanted to make sure I'm real. And none of them tried to get him off of me... didn't want to come closer than proper?”

She nodded with a pained smile. “I am sorry. They are nice but not used to... well... you. I did not want to leave. Had talk with uncle.”

“Yeah I know. At least he sent me these two here somewhat soon.”

She brightened a little. “We can have real talk on way back. Can explain many things.”

“[You will stay here Buidhe,]” Faoileag's voice came from behind. “[Enough scouting for a while.]”

She spun around. “[What?!]”

Her uncle blinked, then cocked his head. “[You sound distressed. Is it too much to ask of my niece to spend some time with her family?]”

She looked away guiltily. “[No uncle, of course not.]” Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Solstice looking disappointed. Disappointed with her, no doubt.

“[I sense a 'but' coming, dear Buidhe,]” Faoileag stated with an irritated tone. “[Your little expeditions take longer with each time you go. You are a tribesmare and it is high time you started acting like one. We have had this talk before.]”

Frustrated, she stomped a fore hoof. Or she would have, had it not been for the uncomfortable truth in his words. So the stomp became more of a tap, although the gesture definitively was still not lost on him, judging by his disapproving look. She had it coming and yet she had acted like she had. She did not dare look in Solstice's direction.

Her brother quietly snickered while the other stallion tried to inch away, looking increasingly uncomfortable.

Faoileag dismissed her cousin with a flick of his head and glared at Ruadh. “[I do neither admonish your sister out of spite, nor for your amusement,]” he reprimanded him. Then he smiled a little. “[You will have the honour of escorting our guest back.]”

Anger welled up in her, almost strong enough to break her composure. Had uncle already seen through her and thought this a fitting punishment? She hung her head, letting the demure gesture bleed away most of her agitation. No, he would be straightforward and not like this. And she had done nothing wrong!

Ruadh groaned before he could stop himself. There was a frosty pause in which he slowly pulled his tail in between his legs and lowered his head. Faoileag's flat expression said 'Consequences. Later. In private.' in bold letters.

A second, much softer groan came from her right, followed by a quiet, miserable “bloody tribal traditions...”

She flinched and was immediately angry with Solstice again. But this time he did not deserve it. He should be angry with her. And was not. Well of course he was not, he had no idea of the dilemma she found herself in. Which should not be one.

She had made an offer she found herself unprepared to follow through on. Not like this. She needed to explain it to him first! She was afraid. The realization that it was as simple as that hurt. She needed time to think!

Faoileag was turning away, having put them both in their place. Rightly so.

'You stupid tribal'. It hurt to even think that. 'You stupid, idiotic, tribal coward!' And she was dragging him into this world without even wanting to, no, she had already done it. It should be the other way round!

She took a deep breath and decided to take a gamble. Teacher let her be right about this. She said, as calmly as she could, “[Wait, uncle.]” She was certain that she would pay for this in some way or other. Especially if she was wrong. There would be no talking her way out of this.

He looked back over his shoulder, his expression tired. “[What is it now?]”

“[Tradition demands],” she swallowed, her ears flicking about nervously, “[Tradition demands the emissary be escorted back by the one who escorted them here.]”

To say that the chieftain's look darkened would have been a serious understatement. She held her ground and kept eye contact. She would not be weak in front of Solstice. If only she could get through this stand-off she would get her way. If only her guess was right.

She was absolutely certain uncle would not let himself lose face for the fact that his niece seemed to be as well versed as himself in parts of the old lore. She hoped. They both knew this was not the case.

The silence stretched while her heart was slowly working its way up her throat.

With stiff movements, Faoileag finally turned around again. “[You are, of course, correct in your assumption, Buidhe. It had slipped my mind. For that I... apologize.]”

He narrowed his eyes yet spoke in a calm, scholarly tone, “[However, as you also will be aware then, every important guest should always receive an escort of two. Solstice Spirit of Stromness certainly qualifies, as I am certain you agree. Your brother Ruadh will receive the honour of accompanying you.]”

Of course she had to lose in one way or another. She bowed slightly. “[Thank you, dear uncle.]”

They set off soon after Solstice had finished saying his goodbyes to her family. They had hosted him after all, even though that mainly had entailed staring and, in one young case, prodding. At least her older sister had gotten over herself, apologized for her colt's behaviour and actually tried to have a little conversation.

Solstice had done his best to reciprocate, tried to answer questions, tried to ask some of his own. That seemed to have disheartened him even further, as he had to discover that real South Ronaldsay was not nearly as easy to understand as her 'scouting version'.

On the bright side, her brother understood just as much English as her sister.

“[Would you stop pretending I am not even here!]”

“[I am honouring our guest by using his language, as is proper.]”

“[Whatever it is, I am quite sure that 'honouring' has little to do with it.]”

“[And how would you know?]”

Solstice snerked, his morose expression finally broken. Ruadh shot him a dirty look.

“Seems my new lackey needs to learn some manners,” he commented dryly, albeit with a weak smile. A tiny bit of that spark was back in his eyes again, that spark largely responsible for the situation she had manoeuvred herself into. Them both into.

“It wood be good, yes,” she declared while moving as close as possible to the permitted half-length away from him. Ruadh on the other hoof barely stayed close enough to not count as disrespectful.
They made for an odd trio whenever they fanned out again after walking single-file across a causeway.

He gave her a sideways glance. “Why did you pick a fight with Faoileag over this here?”

The grass swishing past her hooves became very interesting for a few moments. “I... wanted to be with you.”

With a sigh he turned away to look out over the calm seas to the west. “So I won't see you again anytime soon then, right? Just my luck I guess... that why you were all on edge the whole time? You messed up?”

“No! I did not! It is... not that.”

“Then what's the problem?” He turned his head towards her again, making her squirm. “Ah, I get it. It's me. Can't say I'm surprised after yesterday and today.”

“No one rejects! No one knows. I want to explain!”

Her brother looked over to them with an irritated snort. “[You two sound like a bickering couple.]”

“[Be quiet! This is important!]”

“[Because our future depends on you two trading gossip?]” He bent down while walking and snatched a mouthful of long grass.

“Shut up.” Solstice sighed deeply, looking up the road towards Kirkwall again. “Drop the explaining Buidhe. It just wasn't to be, right? Like I said: too difficult. And I don't even want to know the details. Just be done with it the simple way.”

She stared at him. Why did he suddenly think so low of her? “But... but then all honour lost!” she blurted out. “I do not want for you! I nev-”

“More traditions, eh? Alright, then I'll help you out and drop you instead, better?”

He actually smiled fondly at her. He smiled at her while saying something like this! That did not make any sense at all. “But you cannot!”

“What?” he said, nonplussed.

“Stallion cannot leave mare when accept!” She did not even try to hide the desperation in her voice. “Will be outcast! Only mare can take back offer! Still dishonour for stallion!”

He stopped up at that, but he was still smiling when he turned fully towards her. If anything, his smile was approaching a friendly smirk by now, accompanied by a soft shake of the head. His unruly mane flopped back and forth with the motion as if to put special emphasis on it.

She ignored the drawn-out groan coming from her brother.

“Look, Buidhe...,” his voice turned soft before he fixed her with those large, gold brown eyes of his, “This isn't how my world works. Finding that special other is terribly difficult. For one, there is no 'offer'.”

She blinked and wanted to say something, but he was not finished. He even chuckled!

“Might be something we should adopt though. All for it. There are no rules who asks who or asks what in what order and it's all complicated, confusing and generally awful. Doesn't work despite all that? Just leave and start over.” He shrugged. “Don't worry about me.”

“Ruadh!” he called out, “[Culture(?) difficult... thing... stuff. Move soon.]”

Her brother started to graze a little way off after grumbling something unintelligible. For the first time she felt a little envy towards him.

“Hey, you said that no one knows, so nothing will happen to neither me nor you. I'd give you a serious hug right now but... I guess then somebody would know.” He gave a sad little smile.

“For me would still feel same,” she said in a low voice. “Wanted to explain all. Not enough English words.”

“Don't think this doesn't hurt, you know,” the reply equally subdued. “I get why you're afraid and wanted a few hours to explain; too bad we had to have your brother tag along. Maybe we should have done the explaining first?”

He shrugged and put his smile back on, though it was not very convincing anymore. “Heh. At least I can tell Dawn quite a bit about your uncle now, that display this morning was really informative.

You know,” he began while turning around again, “Let's see what comes from that meeting I arranged.” After a little sigh, he called out “[Ruadh! We finish!]” Over his shoulder he added “I'll wait for you.”

“[Finally. Was wondering if my sister wanted to make uncle angry on purpose now.]” Ruadh trotted over and took his place at Solstice's side.

For a moment she looked at the two from behind before she hurried to take up her own station, this time keeping the same distance as her brother. Solstice's voice was already a little more distanced and with a hint of that perpetual carefreeness and he also had a little bit of that spring back in his gait.

Like he had just escaped something. Because he had, thanks to her cowardice. She should have announced it! She still did not dare.

Tribesmare Buidhe of South Ronaldsay tried to swallow the lump in her throat and carried on escorting Dawn Horizon's messenger back to the edge of their lands. She hated herself.

Author's Notes:

Next up: joining this story arc with our (un)lucky returnee's. I've also begun to re-write the earliest chapters to make them less exposition-dumpy. May take a while though.