I would honestly love you now,
But I would lovingly let you down.
He breathed in the fog, his pink nostrils flaring, the humidity of the gray, dense air filling his lungs. Moisture clung to the wiry whiskers that dotted the skin there. Occasionally a tongue would appear from between his lips and lap at the droplets.
It was strange for the fog to hang around so late in the morning, given the warmth of the season. But Jabari wasn't complaining. With the fog came low hanging, dark clouds. The rain would be here soon enough.
The painted stallion moved lazily through the tall grasses that made up his homeland. His father wasn't far away from the herd. As the foals came, Shamwari opted to stay closer to them during the day, and as such, it was Jabari who went out for the long, lone patrols. But Jabari didn't mind. He didn't enjoy spending time with the herd anyway. Ever since his mother died, the young stallion was hesitant to get to know the latest crop of strangers Shamwari brought in. Especially now, as those strangers birthed the next generation of Shamwari's kin, and Jabari's own siblings. Half siblings, that is.
Luckily for the young stallion, the masculine scent of someone unfamiliar wafted to him in a rare off-shore breeze, which urged him to focus less on the matters he couldn't control, and more on the potential problem at hand. Immediately Jabari's gaze widened, and he searched the hazy landscape for any signs of a potential intruder. Moving through the fog it seemed, was a great way to go undetected.
Eventually he spied a white leg, then a black one. A mismatched colored stallion made his way through the fog, which swirled around his legs and dissapated quickly. The stallion, larger and older than Jabari, made the younger stallion's muscles bunch under his coat and his head shoot high in the air. Instinctively, Jabari thought to sound a bugle of warning to his father. But at the last minute, he held off. Instead he snorted once and pawed fiercely at the earth underneath him in warning. His red ears laced back against his poll and he snorted again. "I think that's far enough." He said, though his tone made it sound as if he was a little unsure of himself.
Jabari didn't think he knew this stallion. But something about the way he moved and the way he watched him seemed just the faintest bit familiar. Jabari knew his father had lived in the Lagoon. Occasionally a stallion or two from his past visited him here. Could this be one of them? As Jabari's heart beat quickened in his chest, he certainly hoped so.
The stallion took a deep breath and moved forward a few feet, still keeping a safe distance from the stranger. He cocked his head curiously to one side. "What business do you have in the Prairie?" He asked bluntly.
J A B A R I Stallion | Brienne x Shamwari | Chesnut Overo | 15.2 h| Photo © Carina Mailwald | © Vinyl |
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