Uhtred finds himself watching the stallions of the lagoon in mild fascination. It was not like he had not seen horses before. Though Nyimara was, for the most part, a loner as of late, she did not completely avoid the others. Occasionally they would join a stray mare here and there in the meadows to graze but there was something about the lagoon and the muscular stallions that roamed here that left him wide-eyed and breathless. Eagerly, his curious gaze traces the dark scars on a particularly tall pale stallion. What stories he must have. What adventures. Did they fight each other? Was the scars badges of honor or visual signs of defeat? Question after question tumble through his mind and leave him breathless with nervous energy. He hoped that somehow he might uncover at least a few answers to these questions before his time here was up. Yet his nervousness prevented him from taking a step forward. What if they attacked him? What if his father attacked him? What if they tried to take him as a prisoner? Unsure exactly what to do or how best to approach them, Uhtred remains where he is, standing just beneath the shadows chewing his cheek in thought.

Secretly, he hoped that one of the stallions would approach him. What he would say however still eluded him. To his surprise however, it is a young colt who is the first to approach him. Pale eyes follow the gangly colt’s solid frame as he changes direction from whatever it was that had originally been his destination and instead stops in front of Uhtred. Dark ears tip forward amid the knotted tangles of his pale forelock. ’Who’ the single word issued out of mere curiosity and yet it is met with his own curious gaze. ”Huh?” he asks, a flicker of confusion igniting his own words. Who was he? Who was he searching for? Who did he work for? The list went on and on.

But the colt’s confident bravado does much to soothe the silver grullo’s unease. Tension built up in his muscles disappears as slowly, he takes a cautious step forward and stretches his muscular neck out to let his charcoal muzzle reach for the sooty colt. ”You mean me?” he asks..