Over green, moss-covered rocks the water tumbled into the wide, clear pool he lingered beside. In the background of the jungle, thick with colors bold and bright enough to make one dizzy, came the familiar soundtrack of Atlantis, the tropic birds and the howling monkeys. The humidity was a bit thick, but nothing he wasn’t already accustom to, and he could doze peacefully to everything that was comfortingly familiar.

He might have, if not for the interruption.

Tarrant’s ear flicked, his eyelids (he couldn’t remember a last time they hadn’t felt so heavy) blinked slowly, and then rapidly, clearing his vision as he tried to focus on what had stirred him back to consciousness. His ears flicked and he heard it, a soft snort, still louder than that of Atlantis’ song, drawing Tarrant’s green-eyed gazed toward it to assess whether or not it was a threat. Regardless, his lack of interest in company meant he intended to be the first to leave, whether driven away by an angry stallion or met by a horse surprised to find him resting here.

Tarrant saw a colt, no older than he had been when he’d accidentally stumbled across the empty, abandoned Shore. The colt’s gold coat, broken by white, even reminded Tarrant of himself, and many children he’d had (of those he’d failed). He did not let himself dream that any of his blood could run through the veins of this colt, though there had been a time where those of golden hues were often relations of Jareth, no matter which island they called home.

Tarrant tried not to let himself dream anymore.

His ear twitched as the colt spoke. A creature of this place. Never had a truer word been spoken. Tarrant was no longer an individual, he’d cast away his own identity when he’d become a recluse in Atlantis. He let his gaze idly fall from the colt to the falls, watching as the water fell in a never-ending cycle.

“I don’t know.”

He answered truthfully, though his voice was raw and quiet, and no smile dared touch his lips. How long had it been since he’d allowed himself to smile. He was quiet a second longer before his eyes (their brilliance dull now) returned to the golden boy.

“What’s your name?”