Solomon

Solomon was used to the rhythm of the ocean. It's monotonous crashing was his constant companion in the Fall when he travelled the most, but even with it only feet from his hind limbs, it is hard to hear over the jungle ahead. Brightly colored birds dashed and darted overhead, so different from the rare cardinal in his home. Everything screamed for attention here. Flowers. Birds. Insects. It was hard to fixate on any one thing and so he didn't.

He fixated on the golden creature that danced as lithe as a ballerina from the depths. A smile drew immediately across his lips, even as he breathed her name into the air between them, that which suddenly felt as electrically charged as a kite in a hurricane. "Çiçek."

Thrilled by her approach, his neck drew into a taut bow, nostrils flared as he stared openly. Hunger darkened the emerald of his eyes and he nickered again, more gently, to her as she descended. It was almost enough of a display for him to forgo his control entirely, and take her away from this cloying mass of jungle and heat, to forget his purpose for coming here in the first place. The thought of holding her at his side seemed worth the pain such a decision might bring, but he restrains himself for now.

"I did say I would come visit, flower girl. Did you doubt me?" he calls back tauntingly, a playful grin on his lips. Solomon stretched forward eagerly to meet her muzzle with his own, and savored the petal accentuated smell of her. She was like a drug that he simply could not get enough of, and he regretted not pushing more for her favor in the Meadow. As if reading his thoughts, she brings the self-same topic up and he shakes his head.

"Never," he assures her. "You seemed smitten with Faolain and my pride got in the way."

Solomon's eyes twinkled with mischief as he offers these words to her. They were, in themselves, a half-truth, but not a lie. He should have pushed harder for the golden mare, but it was not her affections that had lead him to take his leave. No, in truth it was more complicated. The knowledge that his potential ally was no longer in the Ridge, and to find out that a mare that he desired now held it instead had rankled him. And as much as he would love to go rounds explaining why he found it foolish for her to lead by herself, he found himself surprisingly worried by what she thought of him.

It had irked him.

The same mare emerged from the depths of the forest, her sleek dark coat making her much less a spectacle than the blanketed mare between them. Collected confidence radiated from her as though she were a big cat, entirely unperturbed by the other wildlife she might encounter along her path. Her coolness has had it's time to grow on him, and as much as he would like to cultivate his opinion into something akin to dislike, it refuses to budge from desiring her. The way she held herself so reserved, and yet had reacted to his flattery like a girl with her first compliment had done much to earn his interest, and it had only grown as his curiosity had returned to her over the intervening weeks.

"But I think I've done my due diligence in kicking myself for such foolishness," he assures the golden girl with a wink, hoping to lighten the mood, even as he looks up to the dark mare. Softly, he offers her name although it is offered with a modicum of respect rather than the open familiarity that he had shown to Çiçek, if only so that he could try to match her energy. "Faolain."

He reaches to exchange breaths with her once more, again slightly sorry to have to share his affections between the two of them. How much easier it would be if he was free to flirt between them separately. Still, he inclines his head in the same sort of formality that she offered, despite the grin on his lips.

"I had only to make it ten steps away from the two of you to realize my mistake," he offers with a smirk. "But I thought turning back would only make you laugh at me."

He seeks to use humor to lighten Faolain's mood, certain that he saw something more lighthearted in the mare in the brief moment in the Meadow. She does not seem hostile at his approach, but neither is she warm, and while his intention had not been to come here for extracurricular activities as it were, he didn't want to remove the possibility of that outcome.

"I do bring news though," he offers in a slightly more somber tone. "Bjorn is back on the islands."

He watches for her reaction to this news, still not entirely certain what Faolain's relationship was like with the grullo. He doubted that it was warm or friendly, considering her position, but she had not worn any obvious battlescars that suggested a recent battle to him. "From what was said, I don't think he is coming back for the Ridge, but I thought you should know, just in case."

In actuality, Solomon was 99% certain that the grullo stallion had been alluding to Tinuvel, rather than to Atlantis, but there was a chance that he was wrong. After a quiet beat, he offers a grin again, edging back toward his earlier playfulness. "And it was as good as an excuse as any to come back to see the two of you."

Dutch Harness Horse Mutt | Champagne Grullo Tobiano Stallion | 17 Hands | The Cove