IF ever there was a moment in time in which she could freeze... it was this one. He approaches her now, with the same regal expression she had always known him for, the ones that always seem to fit so perfectly upon his hansom features. His dark eyes are soft, or at least she imagines them soft and his thick tangle of red mane settles in a neat haphazard mass alone the fine curve of his muscular neck. In this early light, his bright red coat shines bright as the red breast of a robin, blending neatly into the warm yellows and browns of the prairie behind him. In that moment, he is as she pictured him time and again.

But as with all moments, it is passed. Once more the look of confusion, hurt and pain glitters behind his dark auburn eyes as he places that mask of indifference firmly into place. He keeps a respectful distance between them, tension still visible beneath the silken sheen of his copper coat. Despite the attempt at cheer in her voice, his response is almost reluctant, as though he was left with little choice. For a brief moment the pain flashes in her own eyes of glacier blue. For a moment she considers turning back to the oceans and disappearing back to the island of Atlantis and perhaps even back to the mainland and her mother's herd. It is a fleeting thought, but she is determined this time to rise above it. She was the daughter of a sultan and by blood and birthright royalty. She knew if father were looking down upon her now he would hiss his shame. She would not run from her past. Not when so much still clung to her future. "Yes, I have come this far..." she breathes, the words more for her own encouragement than for Shamwari's ears but none the less they are spoken aloud.

He steps aside, inviting her towards the rolling hills of belly deep grasses. Larka offers him an almost shy smile as she matches her gait to his own, sleek silver white neck arching elegantly as ashen nostrils flare, inhaling the familiar scents of the prairie that she had thought long forgotten. Though fall was still several weeks away from making its initial appearance, already the grasses of the prairie were turning the familiar golden hues, their drying stalks whistling around her as the cool zephyrs curled its invisible fingers through her mane. Like so many of her dreams it brings her back to those days many seasons ago when she and Shamwari had run and danced through the ocean of reeds, when laughter and joy had echoed from his lungs and love smoldered in those dark eyes. Now... now it was gone.

She tries to hide the tingling sensation of his skin brushing against her own, tries to ignore the steady thrumming of her heart at the familiar musk of his scent so strongly enveloping her now. She tells herself that he sees her now as only a nuisance, a ghost of a time long forgotten and sorely missed. Perhaps had she thought twice of the situation, from his standpoint, she would not have come. A wound healed over now opened once more. He speaks again, and his words are calm, devoid of any emotion save for the lingering name he speaks. Like salt to a raw wound she flinches at Liland's name. While she was grateful to the cream stallion who had gladly taken her into his home and welcomed her companionship with the mute Sabela... there was no burning of raw hunger or desire that lingered in her gaze when she saw him. There was no pitter patter of her heartbeat that threatened to overwhelm her as it did now standing so near to Shamwari. She wanted to scream his name, to beg his forgiveness and curve her neck against his strong body. She longed to feel the warmth of his copper neck as it wrapped her tightly in a cocoon of protection and love. She wants to... but she does not.

Her gaze draws back to him, watching as his own dark brown eyes cast a protective gaze over the herd grazing in the distance. An almost reluctant sigh falls from her parted lips as once more she speaks. "Yes, he knows." she murmurs, long black tail flicking idly back and forth against silver white haunches. "He has moved his herd to the Ridge on Atlantis now." she continues, pulling her gaze away from him.

She stops now. A deep breath catching in her throat as she lets the words spill from her heart, "I'm sorry."