†
Some days of rest have done him good.
After visiting the Harbor, Temblor has laid himself up to recuperate from his missteps in the Ridge, minimizing his movements to give his hip a chance to heal. The rains have done much to saturate what mud remains on his body (he has groomed himself as much as he is able, but there are spots high on his neck and face that he simply cannot reach) and he no longer looks as if he has been half-dipped in muck. He has resumed his patrols, wary always of interlopers, and is pleased that although the pain in his right hind has not completely gone away, at least each step no longer sends jagged flares of agony searing down his leg.
Temblor waits for the rains to cease before venturing out for the day. Though he still walks with a bit of a limp, he is optimistic about his recovery and loathe to baby the limb any more than he must. He heads west at a sedate pace, strolling through the jungle with which he is becoming increasingly familiar, and listens to the cries of its inhabitants as he walks. The screeching monkeys which initially were so alarming have become a familiar backdrop to the throaty warbles of the big, colorful birds that swoop through the canopy. This jungle appears to sprawl through the heart of all of Atlantis's territories.
He intends to visit his western-most neighbor when he encounters another horse approaching from that very direction: scarcely has Temblor registered that there is another large creature moving through the dense greenery than they come face to face. He stops abruptly and draws his nose back in surprise, more startled than alarmed as her scent adds a pleasant fragrance to the humid air. He's not seen her before. She's young, slender in the way the only-just-fully-grown are, and patched in caramel and cream. Not a filly anymore, that's for certain, and Temblor feels a small shudder of relief.
"Hello," he says, far less suspicious of a mare in his territory than he would be of a stallion. Though she doesn't look a thing like the silver buckskin, Temblor wonders briefly if she is one of Annubis's children, then flicks the other male from his mind with a switch of his dark tail. "What brings you to Paradise?"
TEMBLOR
& swallows you whole
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