He admired her fearlessness. He could see mischief in her eyes. It reminded him of someone else he used to know a long time ago.

Gael lowered his head down to her and gave her a bit of a crooked smile. “Snapdragon,” he said. He moved his mouth like he chewed on her name, trying to get a flavor. “I like it.” The black stallion nodded in approval. He did not move when she reached out and almost brushed his shoulder, it was a sweet gesture. One that came from her youth.

It was her enthusiasm about the swim which made the stallion laugh. A deep belly laugh unlike any he had had in a long time. He watched her go into the water, she was excited for a playmate.

He dropped his head down again, snorted into the sand along the edge of the waves. Her next question made Gael lift an eyebrow at her. “Splash fights, you say?” So innocent of her to say such a thing. Snapdragon was not fully aware of the world, how fights were not always done with water but sometimes with blood.

The black stallion wades into the water, he draws his lip across the surface. “I’m an old man,” he said. His ears flicked back gently for a cautious second or two before he laughed and used his front hoof to splash her.

“So you better be on your best game today,” Gael said, laughing as he swam a little further from the filly.