I would honestly love you now,
But I would lovingly let you down.
By the look on her face, Jabari had thoroughly bewildered the filly. His wide range of emotions were just as perplexing to him, as he attempted to focus on his breathing and regain control of his melancholy mind. This place, it seemed, was quick to smack him right in the face. In his short lifetime spent mostly among these islands, the painted stallion had felt his fair share of heartbreak.
His pink, whiskered nostrils flared as he sucked in a deep breath, pushing the ache in his chest back down. Her offered the filly a short-lived, but authentically sweet smile. She knew nothing about him or his past, of course, and was just so nauseatingly innocent to the ills of the world all around her. Her presence seemed important, given this context. He was grateful she was here.
She skipped easily over how Jabari had identified where she'd come from. She paid no mind to his mention of Atlantis, but answered the question honestly. He bobbed his head once, allowing his blue-eyed gaze to return to the blanket of stars overhead. He remembered that dense canopy from his imprisonment in Rougaru's jungle. He remembered so desperately wishing he could see the stars.
"That one is meant to guide you home." Jabari offered sheepishly. "Or at least that's what my father used to tell me. That's why it's so bright next to the others."
The claps of thunder from the rolling storm were barely audible anymore. The dark clouds were long gone. In its place was the sounds of nearly nothing. Perhaps with the faint roll of the waves on the shore several feet away. One brown ear twitched at her next question and he felt himself holding his breath.
For a second, he wasn't sure if he could stop the tears from welling a second time, but he snorted once, then twice and looked at her stiffly. "I'm sorry." He said, his gaze darting to his hooves. "It's been a long time since I've seem them from this place, is all."
He sighs again, wondering what to say next. And with the flick of his matted brown tail he settles on something cheap. "Do you always venture out in a storm? Or is tonight special?"
Stallion | Brienne x Shamwari | Chesnut Overo | 15.2 h| Photo © Carina Mailwald | © Vinyl |
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