This was a different girl than the one he had met on the Peaks’s incline all those years ago but, then again, he was a different boy. The same sadness that she tried to hide, Orphiel did too. He turned his sadness into anger and self-loathing, the only ways he knew to cope with it. But his yellow-brown eyes (which, when touched by the sun seemed gold) softened on her when she answered. He wanted to press, though he wasn’t sure why he was so curious to know the truth and if there was a way he could somehow make it all better and bring back the happy, bright-eyed filly he’d met before.
But the presence of the silver-haired stallion could not be ignored and, given it was not just the two of them, Orphiel thought it better to let her keep the mask up that she was trying to. He imagined, like himself, it was her way of protecting herself from the world seeing everything that had weighed her heart down so.
Calfuray, is it? I suppose that is one way to draw it from you.
The smoothe masculine words again set Orphiel almost immediately on edge. A protectiveness over Calfuray was stirring up inside him, even knowing he had no right to impose such a thing over her. He was angry, too, knowing she hadn’t given the silver-haired male her name but it had been because of Orphiel that it was learned. Maybe she hadn’t wanted the other stallion to know who she was. Orphiel glanced briefly at her, searching for any apprehensiveness where the other stallion was concerned. Even knowing he didn’t have the best track-record when it came to facing other horses in battle, Orphiel would throw himself at the silver-haired stallion in a heartbeat if it was what Calfuray wanted. Not because they knew one another so well, it had been so long since they’d last spoken, but… well, even Orphiel wasn’t sure why he was so willing to put himself in danger to keep her safe. There was just something about her standing here, alone and without her sister, eyes so sad even while she tried to act as though she wasn’t, that spoke to the good-heart that still beat in Orphiel’s chest.
The stallion’s clear interest in Calfuray, including his moving closer to her and lowering his voice as if they knew one another and not the other way around made Orphiel snort, hard, and flick his brown-lined ears back. He finally moved his eyes from Calfuray to the stallion where they went from soft and concerned to hard and irritated.
“Really, dude?” He said, and couldn’t help how bothered he sounded. Orphiel wanted to keep the tension low for Calfuray’s sake, but the way the silver-haired stallion was behaving toward her despite his interjection had him on edge. Maybe, just maybe, there was also a seed of jealousy in there, despite Orphiel never once consciously considering such a thing could be.
“You aren’t fooling me, and you aren’t fooling Calfuray either.” It was wrong of him to speak on her behalf, but he said it boldly and plainly, hoping she might agree with him. What if she was intrigued by the silver-haired (and silver-tongued) stallion? What if she actually did want to go home with him? The thought made Orphiel hesitate, but he chose to double-down rather than back-track.
“I doubt you actually care about helping to make her happy. You’re just here to make yourself happy. The least you could do is be honest about it.”
He wanted to ask Calfuray if she still lived at the Peak or where her sister is, to see if she wanted company to safely escort her wherever she needed to go, but Orphiel held his tongue. He was determined not to give any more details of her life to this stallion as it was very clear he would only use it to his personal advantage, the same way he had when Orphiel had revealed her name.
Instead he huffed a sigh and looked over at her, pointedly and boldly making sure to tell her, “You don’t have to entertain this guy or do anything you don’t want to do, or go anywhere you don’t want to go, okay? Not so long as I’m here.”
And he was here. For the first time, Orphiel felt more like himself than he had in months.
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