†
"Ah," he murmurs as it clicks into place. Hers is the scent he has noticed on his borders— an expat, however, he'd thought nothing of a mare's markers before this. His eyes alight with unfeigned interest. Enya is the first mare he's met on these islands who leads her own band. He does not discount Oswin's status as Prime Minister of the Peak, but the mountain herd seems composed exclusively of mares who desire to escape a traditional lifestyle and thus he does not categorize them with the herds scattered among the various territories on each island. He believes they stand apart from the politics and scuffles associated with such a life. Thus, he is especially curious what brings Enya to his door.
Temblor draws back into his own space. She speaks plainly, her ideas articulate and untarnished by flirtation, and mirroring closely the plan he himself has just recently proposed to another resident of Atlantis. He tucks his chin closer to his chest, pleased. Until he was certain of Sigur∂r's intentions one way or another, Temblor had not been prepared to approach the other leaders on the island. Part of that had much to do with the constant change of scents along his borders— except to the north. There, too, a mare's markers had delineated the border of the Ridge, and he knows it will not be long before he finds himself once more in the topmost territory of Atlantis.
His heart calls him south.
"Let us not bind our unborn kin so swiftly," he suggests. "I would not offer my children until I know, without doubt, the integrity of my allies." His dark eyes rove her white-masked face as he continues, as bluntly as she, "And though I am interested in your suggestion of an alliance, once that encompasses the whole of our home island, I have some questions before entering blindly into such an agreement with you." He had tested Sigur∂r's mettle on the battlefield, been impressed, in fact, with the warrior-stallion's boldness, and believes he understands on some level the motivations which drive his neighbor despite the newness of their relationship. Sigur∂r is a stallion: Temblor knows how his own sex operates.
It is still a foreign concept to him that a mare might want to lead a band. He has not interacted with any such leader until now, and he wonders about what might motivate the fairer sex to oversee a band of horses. Mares? Or a band of stallions under her presumed control? Such a thought fills him with wariness. He wonders, too, if the alliance extended between the stallion of the Harbor and himself will cover the sub herd permitted to share Sigur∂r's land. At the time, Temblor had simply assumed. "I come from a place far from here and the customs of this land are still, in some ways, a mystery to me. What are your plans for the Shore, Enya? And, should you and I agree to this arrangement today, would our alliance be honored by all who live within your borders?"
TEMBLOR
& swallows you whole
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