I would honestly love you now,
But I would lovingly let you down.
The wide expanse of the fog-laden beach felt so otherworldly to Jabari as he took it all in from behind his crystal blue eyes. The Ridge was clearly not what he expected. He assumed it would be some sort of extension of Paradise, with the constant hum of jungle creatures, warm, thick air and lush greenery. This place was cooler, crisper. It wasn't flat, wet leaves of exotic plants that littered the elevated landscape in the distance, but instead evergreens, not all that different from the Forest back on Luthien. But the rocks and varied terrain is what made it remarkable.
His hooves hadn't left the damp sand yet, but he tolled on down the quiet beach, his pink whiskered nostrils cautiously testing the sea air. Horses were indeed here. And he was intruding.
It wasn't long before he heard the dull thud of hoof beats behind him, his chestnut ears flicking back to read them, and he slowed to a soft halt. The incoming horse was a stallion - a young one - with a firey red mane and menacing scar over his eye. Jabari's ears flicked forward and at attention, and gave the stud a brief bob of his head in proper acknowledgement. No words were exchanged, but the stallion offered his nose for a cordial exchange of breath, of which Jabari gladly accepted.
"I apologize for the intrusion." He said next, with a subtle flick of his brown tail. "My name is Jabari. I'm looking for..." His voice trailed off as he tried to gather his thoughts. Was there a succinct way to explain? Explain what, that Jabari was lost, feeling abandoned from the only life he ever knew but was too afraid to return to his birthplace? That he was here because he couldn't think of anywhere else to go, and was drowning in his own loneliness on the Common Isle? "A dark mare, who at one time looked after this place. Her name is on the tip of my tongue..." But it wasn't. Jabari didn't remember her name. "She was once an ally to my father, Shamwari in the Prairie." The brown stallion looked too young to remember his sire, so Jabari just exhaled, shrugging sort of, in his lame attempt to explain himself.
"I hope you don't mind that I'm here."
Stallion | Brienne x Shamwari | Chesnut Overo | 15.2 h| Photo © Carina Mailwald | © Vinyl |
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