The Marwari stallion felt some vague kind of hope when the silver Peak mare followed him to the shore. She did not seem afraid of him, and this caused him to relax his defenses just a little bit. One of Fell’s worst flaws (that he was willing to acknowledge, anyway) was that he could only ever escalate. If someone was afraid, or angry with him, the black stallion only ever made things worse; he was defensive and angry himself almost constantly, and that never mixed well. It was almost always explosive.

He was lucky that Kolfinna seemed neutral, at least, because this left very little with which Fell’s volatile emotions could react. His tension did not subside completely, but it did soften ever so slightly as they walked, the silver mare just behind him. When she moved forward to greet the other Peak mare, as Fell had expected, the velvet-black stallion only watched with one ear trained forward on the women and the other swiveled outward. He listened to their conversation seemingly without shame, for he knew that he was a part of it even if it was not his business at all — but he would always feel othered in situations like these, listening to the conversations of herdmates or strangers, whether or not he was included, because he could never truly be included. He would always just be listening, no matter the context or the content.

As they spoke, the familiar deep-forest scent of Blue pulled his attention partially to the side. He kept one ear on the Peak mares as he turned his head slightly to watch her approach, a mixture of relief and anxiety unfurling within him. Blue was somehow both the type of person he reacted with the most, and the type he felt most comfortable being around. She seemed to understand him, which was comforting; and she seemed to enjoy pressing his buttons, which was thrilling under most circumstances, but not ideal under these. His anxiety stemmed from the association of adrenaline with Blue, and was not wholly unpleasant. This situation was tenuous, but Fell would be lying if he denied wanting Blue’s fire to spice it up.

As she settled next to him and addressed the Peak mares, her body language and tone were both calmly defensive. Despite Kohelet’s defense of him and the knowledge that she would stand up for him if ever asked it of her, Fell was still entirely unused to having backup. Usually, if he started shit, he had to finish it himself. He knew Blue was likely not standing up for him specifically (she was just as territorial as he was) but it still emboldened him to have her there, addressing outsiders in the way Fell could not.

Oswin spoke in response to Blue’s request, her tone carefully level. Fell may not have loved the idea of listening as his only participation in life, but as he had no control over that fact, he had (unintentionally) learned to be rather observant. He did not think it required a delicate eye to pick up Oswin’s tension, or a careful ear to know that her words were guarded. It didn’t matter; regardless of the implications of her words, they were not untrue, and Fell would not betray any hint of shame or anger at the accusation.

Still, the tension had crept back into him with a vengeance, and he steeled himself for the wait — the silence during which either Oswin would figure out that he would not speak, or her Peak sister or Blue would tell her.

Neither of these things happened, as it turned out. There was no wait, at least no longer than a brief second, and neither Kolfinna nor Blue were the ones to break the silence. A small voice turned Fell’s head in surprise, and he watched as Maziel’s young daughter joined them. Though he had interacted with her since their first disastrous introduction, his most prominent memory of the pale filly was the half-thought of trying not to step on her as he drove Dreadstag away from her mother. Since then, he had paid a slightly more protective kind of attention to Charmeine and Maziel, and was comforted whenever he found his young son playing with the pale filly.

Fell responded to the gentle bump of Charmeine’s nose against his shoulder with a brief touch of his own muzzle against her forehead, but his attention never truly left Oswin as he did so, and his wary golden eyes flicked quickly back to her. He could not communicate his intentions to her, no matter how many Bay residents appeared to help; he couldn’t even communicate his intentions to his herd beyond the most basic. The only thing he could do was try not to make it worse. He would not herd Kolfinna back into the Bay, and if she tried to leave with Oswin, Fell would let her. The Bay needed bodies for the Winter, and Fell could not deny that he enjoyed Kolfinna’s brindled silver coat against the pines of Tinuvel, but the Bay also needed to not be enemies with the Peak.

FELL

stallion. 16hh. black. marwari x. Rougaru x visurix.