They said we'd burn so bright.
We burn this city and go.
Paradiso held his head high over his withers, the muscles along his thin neck tense and bulging. A lone ear lobe flicked forward and back at the sound of the strange, and foreign, greeting the roan stallion issued after Paradiso introduced himself. He didn't dare more closer to the stallion whom was clearly older and larger than he. Paradiso made note of his cool and calm demeanor right away. The stranger seemed completely content to be in his company, and didn't seem to register little Paradiso as a threat, in any sense of the word. Paradiso weighed this quickly. Part of him was relieved, and he relaxed a little when the stranger told him he wasn't a threat. But another part of of the young stud still felt uneasy about it. Horses didn't look at his brother so quickly and decide he wasn't a threat. Paradiso wasn't a colt anymore. Perhaps it was time for him to learn a thing or two.
Paradiso watched the stallion as he moved forward to greet him, the muscles under his taunt spring coat bunching with nerves. Nevertheless, Paradiso arched his neck and shared a common breathe with the stallion, knowing how disrespectful it would be if he didn't. When the stallion finally responded to his question, Paradiso registered it with a quick swivel of his ears. If this fellow didn't know Menkhet, what was he doing in the forest?
Quickly, Paradiso allowed his gaze to survey the woods around them. Perhaps this stallion was in fact the threat that Shamwari had warned him about. How foolish was he, to walk right into the Forest and stumble upon the intruder he now vowed to Menkhet to help protect against? A now snort left his soft-skinned nostrils. And luckily before he had to answer the strange stallion, whom still hadn't offered up his name, the familiar mare of the Forest emerged from the thicket.
Paradiso returns her greeting with his own high-pitched whinny, his features lighting up almost immediately as he recognizes her. He suddenly felt safe, as if this mare would protect him now. And almost immediately after that realization, Paradiso felt guilty. He was supposed to be protecting the Forest too. Not add to Menkhet's growing list of things worth protecting. So with another snort, Paradiso took several steps to stand level and alongside Menkhet, offering the leader of the Forest and weak smirk before turning his attention back to the stallion he'd met just moments before.
2 | Stallion | Evaline x Valentine | Smoky black pintaloosa | 15 hh | Photo © Carina Mailwald | © Vinyl |
|
|