Common

He had no business being in the Commons right now. In fact, he had no business at all being anywhere that was not the Badlands, and - if he were to listen to any of his own herd - preferably penned up in a canyon somewhere, being alternately yelled at for disappearing and doted upon. Barely a week had passed since he had found his way back home, and while he had certainly begun to pack the pounds back on and no longer quite resembled a kelpie in the mane and tail department, he was by no means his usual charming self.

But Raegar had a score that needed to be settled, one that he could not let go of, even now that Amaris was safely home. The game of give and take that he had engaged in with the black stallion had been fun, until she had been taken. Until her golden figure had disappeared over the horizon, her belly just beginning to swell with their child, Raegar had considered it a fun distraction. Losing Aramis, however, had made him desperate. Had led him to take chances that had ultimately led him into the storm that had swept him out to sea.

Fell wasn't really at fault for all of that, of course, but someone would have to take the blame, and Fell was conveniently target-shaped.

He hadn't been successful in wresting the delicate little buckskin mare from Fell's grasp, but that had never really been the point anyway. It wasn't about taking from the irritating black stallion, but for making a point. One that Raegar wasn't sure had been driven home quite yet, but he knew there would be other chances. Other opportunities.

As it was, he limped his way southward (having skirted very, very carefully around the Peak) and cut westward, knowing full and well he should instead go directly home to his family and children. To the mares that had already graciously (for the most part) welcomed him back, despite his misstep. The last thing his herd needed as he was reknitting them together was another new member to mix up the dynamic... and yet his hooves kept trekking through the long autumn grass, following the trails carved by other visitors.

He might have passed through the whole area unscathed if it were not for the scream that reverberated through the air from somewhere close. It caught him by surprise, not only because of how sudden it was, but because there was an echo of familiarity in that rage. A flash of furious blue eyes against white and rich peach fur skimmed across his mind, along with the pungent memory of the Lagoon's stench on her skin.

Raegar lifted his own head and called back, racing to join the little lioness he'd once briefly called his own. His body screamed at the sudden pace, still sore and bruised from Fell's punishing blows, but the overo offered them no relief, only grunted and dug in more deeply, reopening the gash across his shoulder from his haste to find her.

"Wildcat?" He drew to an abrupt ahalt as she came into view, his mental image of her so incongruous against this current version of her that he wasn't sure what he was seeing at first. She looked as bedraggled as he had upon washing ashore in the Badlands, though he was certain that his eyes had not been so puffy, nor as wild. It gentled his original approach, and he closed the distance more slowly, his brow furrowed with concern. "What's wrong?"

young stallion - mutt - seal bay overo - 15.1h - rafe x velahrn