“Yes there was,” he nodded his head, “there used to be four territories to an island and every year there would be a tournament to see who would become that island’s king.” Nostalgia and age his Tarrant in the gut. While he felt his older years a lot more often these days than he had in the past sometimes it still caught up to him just how old he was. “There used to be a whole other island too – Cimarron.” Tarrant wasn’t sure if the story of Cimarron’s fall was told anymore or if the islands had forgotten it, no more than red rock rubble that barely poked out from the line of the ocean waves. “I was king there when that island fell.”

Sometimes he remembered how his legs had burned as he’d run from territory to territory, screaming for all the inhabitants to flee, heart pounding heavy in his chest as he felt the earth rumble and heard the worlds groaning. He’d never felt anything like it.

His green eyes dropped down to look at Sokka as the colt excused himself and Tarrant’s thoughts moved from his personal past to Sokka’s future, feeling for the young colt but unable to do any more than he already was. The season would come where Sokka would have to move on and Tarrant only hoped that the colt’s mother or father might find their way back before then. Just at least so he might have some closure…

Stardust spoke and at the sound of her voice, Tarrant’s ears twitched. He pulled his gaze from the retreating chestnut cold and to her instead, offering a sympathetic expression on behalf of Sokka. It wasn’t his business to tell Sokka’s, so he simply said, “he’s going through some rough stuff right now.”

His eyes lifted to what of the blue sky he could see through the thick jungle canopy above and he sighed, dropping his skull and sweeping his eyes to Stardust. “You’re welcome to stay the night if you want, but if you want to get back home to Tinuvel before nightfall, you might want to think about heading out soon.” He didn’t mean to sound as if he was pushing the filly out, for Tarrant didn’t really care whether she wanted to stay or go, but he figured he’d throw the offer out there just in case she wanted it.