†
Temblor rises with the dawn. Sunlight hasn't yet penetrated the thick green canopy overhead, but the oppressive darkness between the trees has begun to lift even as the thick heat of the day permeates the jungle. All around him leaves are heavy with dew, moisture that will be sucked up into the air soon enough and then sluiced back over everything via a heavy rainstorm. He is becoming familiar with the weather here. Ordinarily he would not begin his day until after the rains, but he has business elsewhere and, if he times it right, can return home when Paradise wears its best face: sunset.
He is in high spirits this morning. His hip is healed: he is neither stiff in the mornings nor sore at the end of the day, and even sudden movements have ceased to produce the slightest twinge from his hind leg. Perhaps years from now, on very cold days, the limb might protest, but Temblor dismisses that concern with the flippancy of healthy youth. Cold and old age are both very far away. His focus narrows on his mission for the day and, guided by the familiar sounds of his jungle, Temblor sets out at a trot through the trees.
The dapple gray stallion heads for the beach. From there he will dive into the ocean and make his way to the neighboring island to see if he can win for himself a new mare for the herd. His own borders are secure (not a whiff of anyone else trying to encroach on what he has marked so assuredly as his) and he won't have to spend this afternoon soaking wet from the summer rains; he's in a very good mood.
His forward progress is halted by an unexpected, though not unwelcome, source: a rosy mare steps through his trees, small in stature but hardy and compact. Her face and hair are dark —not the same red roan from the beach the other day, then. "Good morning," Temblor calls, and adjusts his path through the trees to cross in front of her. His ears point forward as he extends his nose toward her, lightly, offering to exchange breaths before he pulls his head back. "What brings you to Paradise?"
TEMBLOR
& swallows you whole
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