to be fearful of the night;
It had not been the ideal time of year to flee and seek haven Elsewhere. The first frosts had descended the morning of his departure, and winter would soon secure its hold over the land. Despite their fateful... disagreement in the end, and all the infinitesimal glittering shards of the irreparably shattered ties to which it had reduced their friendship, Sidereal could not keep his heart from twisting painfully again and again over the journey here as he worried about Ephemeris's fate. She had never liked the cold weather--what would happen to her if she failed to rescue the poor trinket? And would it not be the same if she succeeded? If she lost the protection of the Polaris herd in the harshest season of the year? No other herd would take her in; they all deferred to Polaris in the end. The bone-aching chill of sea wind on his drenched coat when he'd washed ashore here for the first time only served to deepen his anxiety. Ephemeris would face worse, if she were forced Elsewhere later in the winter.

And if she were punished with something worse than exile?

She wouldn't even want this concern, Sidereal told himself, not that it helped. He still cringed at the memory of the outrage and disdain in her voice the last time they'd spoken to each other. Of course she never would have considered any other option, not when it meant abandoning her friend to fate. Simply thinking about it still made him want to slink away in shame, ears pinned. She had always burned so brightly. Years of friendship, of walking beside her, of being awed and warmed by the brilliance of her light--and he could still not be as brave in the end.

But he could not spend all his time dwelling on it when winter's inexorable approach hung over the land. Sidereal had spent the past few days on this island (and how surprising that had been: that the lands Elsewhere would be an island chain, unlike the endless land of Home) keeping his head down and an ear out, and had come to the tentative conclusion that the Lagoon would be a good bet for a place to stay. A bachelor herd of stallions, where leaders were determined by vote, seemed safer than a herd ruled by the whims of a single leader; and a semi-tropical climate promised mild weather and good grazing even through the winter. The politics, not that he'd been able to glean much information, he considered a secondary concern. If he was quiet, unthreatening, and agreeable, surely he would not be threatened in return.

(Right?)

It was with this faint hope that Sidereal approached the Lagoon and let out a nicker to a black figure standing on alert nearby. "Hello," he greeted in a soft voice as he approached, the image of a simple, unassuming stranger. "Have I reached the Lagoon?"

Sidereal - Shagya Arabian Mix - 15.2hh - Black Snowflake Rabicano