They said we'd burn so bright.
We burn this city and go.
Paradiso was on edge, alarmed at his brother's unexpected intrusion and uneasy about how this could change Mariel's opinion of him. Paradiso hadn't been a resident of the Bay for that long. And if he was being honest, Mariel sort of frightened him. Not necessarily in a bad way, but she was intimidating. As such, he hadn't spent a whole lot of time in her company without being alongside the rest of the herd. Despite his uneasy feelings for her, he believed in her ability to run the Bay. She'd shown time after time that she was ready to work tirelessly for the benefit of her herd. It was something Paradiso hadn't seen in another leader since well, his brother, back in the Prairie. Mariel was the real deal, he'd concluded early on. It helped the spotted stallion cement in his mind that this is where he should be right now. He wanted to serve a leader that he believed in. Mariel was it.
As such, he was embarrassed and whole heartedly filled with worry that Shamwari could mess that all up.
The spotted stallion carried on silently as Mariel and Shamwari talked, his shoulder pressed firmly against that of his much larger brother's, as they trudged through the snow. Of course the stallion worried about the condition of his brother, too, given his clearly winded state, But he knew that Mariel would take care of him. So he listened quietly as the two talked on their short trek farther inland from the windy bay, beaming to hear that Mariel regarded him personally as family.
"I couldn't wait for spring." Shamwari blurted out and Paradiso eyed him, wondering what the immediacy was for. "Paradiso, your sister is living as a captive of the Inlet. She is due with foal any day now, and I am worried about her." He said. Paradiso's ears flicker back and forth as he registers this information. "What? I thought Vita Nova was in the Desert?" He questioned, feeling some semblance of warmth working its way back into his brother's extremities. "I won her back for the Prairie in battle after Evaline informed me that Koray was abusing her. But now she lives with that cocky fool, Orkaan, who I don't trust as far as I can throw him." Shamwari explained, clearly uncaring of what Mariel might think of either leader from the Desert or the Inlet.
"Mariel, I knew your father, Nephilim. He was one of my closest friends." The chestnut stallion continued. Paradiso eyed Mariel from over his brother's withers, trying to gauge her reaction to this onslaught of information. "Paradiso is always welcome at home in the Prairie, but it gives me comfort knowing he has family here too, and with the kin of someone I think of so highly." Shamwari said, his gruff voice becoming less labored as they walked.
Stallion | Evaline x Valentine | Smokey black pintaloosa | 15 hh | Photo © Carina Mailwald | © Vinyl |
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