Falls

"Come home with me."

The words were a beg, a hoarse cry leaving his lips no louder than a whisper that conveyed the desperation he felt over keeping her near and dear. All of her words, wise far beyond her years and beautiful beyond Asche's comprehension began to blur together in his assiduous mind and all he could force out in response was an answer to her question - moaned, like a prayer, against the warmth of her flesh. As he drew his body away from hers to watch her as the moonlight pooled about them and lit them silver, he could still feel the lingering, humid glow of her breath where it had tickled his waiting ears and she had spoken her name to him as if it were the deepest, darkest secret she knew. She was enchanting - and he felt a fool.

Through the water he began to wade, pale legs emerging momentarily as he strode deeper into the pool, casting ripples around them both as he let his eyes linger over her body and his ivory tail snake behind him in tendrils through the inky blackness of the falls at night. He wanted to take her in, take the moment in, store the memory forever: for nights alone, for the times where he was not invited to lie with her and press his pale hide against her sooty frame and use his hot-running blood to keep her warm as his heart beat like butterflies wings.

"Tolinka," he whispered again, enjoying the way her name sounded like a song when he spoke it, briefly feeling as if he could match her in refinement. "It would make me so very happy if you came with me." His lips grazed her side as he rounded her, and nipped playfully at the end of her mane around her withers, tugging softly, before he released her and gestured softly with his muzzle towards the shore.

He strode away in the direction of Atlantis, feeling her presence there like a shadow, knowing he wished that feeling would last for eternity.