It is with frantic desperation that Kuraz clambers up the slopes of the Peak, his frequent glancing behind serving to slow and stumble him, but each time he meets the gaze of the dark stallion behind him, the young colt finds his strength renewed. His heart trembles in his chest, awed by the strength of his trailing shadow, almost unable to believe his eyes. The unnamed stallion is a miracle manifest to the boy, just as the pale stallion who’d brought Bozena to him had been.
“Just a little further,” Kuraz murmurs in their shared Tongue, beneath a ragged breath, the words serving as an encouragement to himself as much as he intends them to be a reassurance to his Kin. And more than that, he utters the words because he can. Aside from Bozena, he does not speak to anyone. The foreign tongue of these islands has proven difficult for him to grasp.
There is such freedom and security in being able to understand and be understood. So many take it for granted. But not Kuraz. His eyes glisten with unshed tears as he allows his emotions to take hold, and be felt.
“We belong together,” he whispers to the wind, smiling as he blinks through the tears. He is too tired to continue any further at the moment, but his heart still gallops inside him, desperate to be near to the one who has come to mean so much to him. .
“Too long have we been apart, and we have been scattered so far from our Homeland, and our People. No more, and no longer.” The dark colt, with tiny flecks of white scattered down the line of his back (like the first snowflakes settled on the rocky crags of a dark and distant mountain range), turns from the black stallion beside him, and looks to the Peak.
He does not doubt Bozena had been keeping watch for him. Later, he’d apologise for his roaming, but for now, more than anything else, what mattered most was the bringing together of what could be all that remained of their noble People.
A deep breath of mountain air, filling his lungs and soothing the burning in his chest.
“Bozena!” The cry rang out, echoing off the slopes, high and clear. And trusting she’d hasten to his side, he pricked his ears, straining to catch the first sounds of her approach, or any answering call she might give. When she did appear, ever the epitome of strength and grace in Kuraz’s eyes, the colt skittered towards her across uneven ground, the words leaving his mouth in a rush, even as he sought to curl himself beneath the arch of her neck, pressed to her chest – the innocent but wise young soul who had made an oath to protect the mighty heart that beat in the mare’s breast with all the strength he had now, and would have in days to come.
“We belong to each other!” After a moment, he drew back, retreated a little, and turned to look back towards the stallion, beckoning him with silence and a level gaze. And Kuraz moved to stand adjacent to the pair, silent for a moment, reverential. There was a charge in the air, and something in the way they each stood that poured hope into all the empty spaces within Kuraz, and led him to believe…
This was his revelation, husky and raw with emotion;
“We belong to each other.”