A side-eyed glance of gold eyes showed Nephilim the stance little Tithe had taken, and a grin worked its way over his mouth. “Keh,” he barely breathed the noise of amusement, pulling his gaze from the colt and back to Amaranthe. This was Nephilim’s first interaction with a foal (though he was expecting to have another – his own flesh and blood when Rohanne birthed their child) and so far, he found himself amused. It was only frightening if he actually stopped and realized he’d be one of the boy’s role models, but when he was simply relaxed and not paying too much mind to it, it wasn’t so bad.

Nephilim’s nose bumped Amaranthe’s as the hardened dark mare extended hers, and he was briefly surprised, enough that he blinked at her as she pulled away and seemed at a loss for what to say next. Thankfully the mare brought up a topic of conversation, bringing the attention back to the black colt who stalked around them, and Nephilim’s eyes flashed to him while she spoke. Once she finished, Nephilim glanced at her, frowning.

“I will…” he said, but seemed quiet for a moment, studying her. He thought of their previous conversation when she’d first arrived in late winter and now they stood, a season later, with her son making his way around the pair of them. “Are you testing him?” He asked, his eyes searching her, attempting to gauge her desire to begin engaging him in spars at such a young age. If she truly only wanted to test the strength of her son, Nephilim would have no qualms and he trusted himself enough to be careful with the boy – test him, but not break him. But, as a colt who’d often been pushed around and abused by his dam, Nephilim just had to make sure…