Nattergal has never had much of a father figure. His mother was his only constant until not that long ago. Now nothing seems constant. His hooves walk a path, ever changing. The earth buckles and bends, and he stumbles along the way. He needs a firm foothold, and a strong role model to follow.
For just a moment, Nattergal remembers looking up at Rougaru and wondering what it would have been like to have him for a father instead, to be doted upon, to feel welcomed and wanted, to be taught all the things that fathers teach their sons. This is almost how Nattergal feels looking up at this stallion. Is it his size? Looking up brings Nattergal back to a time when he was even smaller, having such thoughts often. Or is it the way this stallion welcomes him to dine with him, much as a father should, but his own never has?
A warmth mixes with a strange unease and Nattergal takes a few steps further out into the open. He casts one more sidelong glace at the massive stallion, before stepping closer yet. A brief moment of additional consideration leaves Nattergal feeling reassured. He lowers his head to graze beside the older male in companionable silence.
What winds of chance have blown these two together today? Somewhere on another island, Liland is scheming. Soon, Havelle will come to find him, and set him on a different course, one that sends him home to the Lagoon with Kendry. A budding sense of family should grow to something so much more in these coming years.