I want to stay with him. It shouldn’t have surprised him, but Orphiel faltered a moment as his eyes slid quickly to meet Calfuray’s. He felt a warmth blossom inside him like he hadn’t in some time, followed shortly after by the gnawing ache of paranoia. He blinked and looked back toward the green-eyed stallion, who was quite clearly more battle-tested out of the two of them. Toss in Orphiel’s less-than-stellar track-record for faulty confidence and there was every bit of a chance if this thing turned violent, Orphiel might lose. Despite that, he reaffirmed his resolve to do as he’d promised and keep Calfuray safe no matter the cost. Maybe she could run and get somewhere safe like the Peak while he and this stallion fought…
But the other stallion did not seem outwardly aggressive. Orphiel watched him with apprehension, but he still only had eyes for Calfuray.
If that is what you want… I didn’t imagine any mare would be so eager to become a pretty little trinket for the lagoon boys but…. I hear they share everything these days… isn’t that right, little pup?
It was that same cool, collected voice that had set Orphiel on edge during the entirety of this exchange, but he bristled even more now because what was said was technically true. Orphiel’s ears twisted back. “I won’t be taking her to the Lagoon.”
Truth was he didn’t know where they could or would go, but now that Calfuray had made her decision to stay by him, Orphiel knew there was no way in hell he’d be taking her to the bachelor’s marshland. He had already felt out-of-sorts among the new change crawling slowly through the Lagoon and deeply questioned his place there, but now with her beside him? He wouldn’t subject Calfuray to even the chance she’d cross paths with the new boss, of whom he trusted even less than he trusted the silver-haired stallion before them.
“But I won’t be telling you where we’re going.” As if that was some sort of triumph, as if he could laugh in the stallion’s face over it - Hah! You won’t trick that answer out of me like you got the last ones!. Orphiel even felt a bit of a grin curl the edge of his lip and, with the other stallion having intended to leave the situation rather than press, he gave a decisive flick of his brown tail and looked at Calfuray to address her instead.
“There’s a new boss in the Lagoon,” he explained, in case she hadn’t heard the news herself, “But I didn’t vote for him and I didn’t want him there. It won’t be safe for you in the Lagoon.” Hell, some days he even worried if it was safe enough for him to be there. Part of his worry was that they’d feed on his festering rage and turn him into the monsters they were. But with Calfuray… maybe, just maybe, she could help him find and hold on to who he used to be. Who he liked being.
“I’m not going to do anything that would put you in any danger.” He said it softly to her, but firmly too, and hopefully loud enough that their acquaintance might hear it too before he made his leave (if he still intended it). Orphiel meant as he’d said. So long as he was near, he would do everything he could to keep Calfuray safe.
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