fenris

The sea had been frigid where it touched the Lagoon's shore, but as they - the young stallion and the blanketed mare - swam further south, winter seemed to fade from existence. For a few days the Crossing had lingered on the cusp of spring - the temperatures rising steadily above freezing, the snow slowly melting and softening the frozen crust of earth. But when the island of Atlantis erupted from the sea, it was clear that it had never known the howling winds and piercing cold of the Crossing's more temperate climate.

In fact, to Fenris's single yellow eye - so accustomed to the ashen layers of snow that had buried his home - the beach he approached was so pristine that it couldn't possibly be real. Separating himself from the foamy white surf of the sea, the dark bay scrambled beyond the reach of the waves, eyeing the unnatural verdency of the Ridge with some apprehension. He was born - and would die - a creature of the Crossing, with its cycle of springtime birth and winter death. On Atlantis, it was as if time had become meaningless - as if he could stay on this sandy shore until the world came to its end, forever a boy on the verge of becoming a man.

The thought did not appeal to Fenris at all.

Snapping impatiently at the mare with the white-mapped hindquarters, the two-year-old herded her toward the center of the small beach, his dark ears pointing in opposite directions. By the spines of the mountains that were visible in the distance, the bachelor was certain he had arrived in the Ridge as intended - all that remained for him now was to see that the stallion understood the bargain he'd struck with Felony, and to release the dark woman to his custody. Fenris did not intend to linger a moment longer than was necessary - he had no patience for the strange politics his father had thrust him into. It made little sense for the Lagoon to bolster their enemies' herds, and even less for them to accept only a promise as payment.

But though he might disagree with Felony's decision to trade with outsiders, the boy was not one to disobey a diect order. "Grai." Fenris announced his arrival in a level voice, certain that the one he had been sent to find was not far.

colt / yearling / dark bay / friesian mix / 16 hh