"So, Uncle, what do you think?"
Diamant gave his sleek black coat another shake before giving the landscape a once-over. Before them stretched a green meadow lush with clover and dandelions, which was hugged on all sides by a broadleaf forest. In the distance, the land rose in craggy hills, and - above the crash of waves at their back - Diamant thought he could hear the thunder of a waterfall.
With a half-hearted grunt of acknowledgement, Diamant eyed the stallion at his side. Argento was a handsome, if somewhat smaller and leaner specimen than Diamant, with a splashed bay coat that had roaned almost completely white but for the spots on his hindquarters. Being only two years Argento’s senior, Diamant still found it odd to think that, technically, he was Gent’s uncle - hence the nickname. He had been told that, at one point, he had been unaware of this fact - having been raised as a brother to Gent and Jetta with no knowledge of his true origins. He had also been told that this had been the source of some existential angst on his part. Diamant had no memory of this, however. At times he could only just about remember who Gent was.
Gent’s bright blue eyes met his own warm amber gaze with something like merriment dancing in them. Diamant knew that Argento was eager to get to the Lagoon, where Gent had once briefly ruled as the Boss. It was a place of lonely bachelors like them, Gent had told him. Diamant could not remember the Lagoon, though he had apparently spent time there in his youth. He did not share Gent’s enthusiasm for returning, but he knew it was the best place for them right now, especially with Jetta’s plan to return to the Peak, right next door. It was a cocoon of safety for Diamant, in which he would have no fears or responsibilities. Or so he was told.
The two stallions moved further inland at a leisurely pace, snatching mouthfuls of grass here and there while Gent talked Diamant’s ear off. Diamant’s mind was numb from the exertion of the swim here, and from the sensory overload of being in a new place, so he said little in return. It was only when he caught sight of a stranger that Diamant came back to life, his tired eyes brightening and his body lurching into a brisk, purposeful walk toward the stranger, leaving a surprised Gent behind.
“Sorry to bother you,” he said, “but do you know the way to the Lagoon?”
11; friesian; black w/ star; 17.2hh
het vuur x sterre |