Having settled the tattered remnants of an old kingdom into his new home, Rade withdrew into himself - always watching, always aware of the mares and their movements, but never taking it upon himself to offer them either suggestion or direction. Perhaps the reason lurking behind this fault of leadership is that he himself lacks these things. Like a tangled heap of flotsam, the golden stallion has been drifting in the sea of life for far too long, borrowing his purpose from another. He rediscovers his own legs just in time to drag himself upright in his lowest hour, with the welts of Styrke's bruising bite throbbing a painful protest as he emerges from the sea's soothing grasp. His brother lies far beyond his reach, and Rade will have to stand alone against the world.

Heaving himself from the surf and onto the sandy beach, the first impressions of home are dim and distant to his senses; the swaying palms, the wild symphony of jungle life, and the steady drizzle pattering down to further dampen the sodden honey of his coat. It is the shrill scream of childish laughter that finally manages to pierce the fog of Rade's thoughts, his amber eyes roving the beach until they alight on the solitary form of a dark child dancing in the shallows. It seems that Clytie bears no love for her rape-born daughter, and has abandoned the filly to her own devices. A scowl twists the thin line of Rade's lips as he watches the the kid frolic alone; the daughter of the Lagoon's general should not be raised in such a careless manner.

The gloomy mural of the sky is echoed in Rade's expression; ominous and clouded, his eyes probe the forest's darkness, sifting through each shadow in search of Clytie. The woman would be berated - no, punished - for her callous neglect of the child. She would raise Floyd's offspring, regardless of her own agenda.

A flicker of motion on the periphery of his vision captivates Rade's attention, but the blistering words that sear his tongue find no release. It is not Clytie, but an unfamiliar earthen woman who the filly approaches so exuberantly. Flattening his ears with a ghastly squeal, the golden stallion lurches across the beach, lunging in front of the child's slight figure and thrusting his muscled chest forward to push the stranger back and away from his youthful charge. At the same moment, Rade's head snakes toward hers, his lips parting slightly as if for a lover's kiss - and then his teeth grasping for the arch of her neck.

stallion // mongrel // 15.1hh // 4 // palomino roan // reba
debonaire x neassa