Falls

It was easy to recognize the attributes that you valued in oneself in others, or at least perceived traits. Strength had always mattered to the spotted man, less of a lust for power and more out of sheer survival but it was easy to recognize that same strength in the golden man who stood before him now. It was however quickly becoming apparent the more they spoke that he could back it up with a sharp mind, which with age Bondurant had come to respect and value even more. Brute strength was easy enough to come by, but someone who could combine the two was the rarer find. It was apparent in the confident way he held himself, the sure set of his shoulders that he was no captive or companion of theirs. As the conversation drifted on his confidence in the would-be stranger only grew, coupled by the growing sense that he knew the man in some manner at least.

As his words turn retrospective regarding where he had once been and the fact that he had shut the door on ever returning, all these words more long winded than he had possibly ever been but his eloquent companion was drawing more from him than most ever had. Rade however had no issue responding with fluid grace that suited what Bondurant was finding to be his loquacious nature. His blocky head only nodded slightly at his words. It was true, had he been so very different in his youth? All the wisdom in the world spoken at him back then wouldn’t have amounted to a hill of beans. It was the disease of youth, the only cure being age and often not realizing it until that youth had left you. It was cruel, but it was life; an endless cycle going round and round. Did he seek to break the wheel?

There is a poignant pause between them as Rade lets those words sink in, but the spotted man holds his gaze as his dark tail flicking at his heels like a pendulum. After a beat the golden stallion continues, and at his words one eyebrow raises with both reserve and intrigue at the calculated but not inherently untrue words that followed. The longer he spoke the more passion filtered into his even, smooth voice, but Bondurant could tell he was keeping himself in check. Perhaps he too had experience with just how passion could obscure and detract from logic when presented unevenly to someone else. As Rade posed the poignant question to him the vagabond took his time to respond. Mentally he chewed over what had been said, turning it over and over in his mind as if trying to wear the rough edges off a stone. “The future is the only thing that matters,” he finally drawls, his baritone voice clinging to the syllables and dripping like honey yet carrying the weight with which he meant them. “But no doubt their parents will suffer the same malady, the same blindness we once did. Convincing them to let their children… apprentice elsewhere will be no easy task.”

Would he have sent his own children to live with veritable strangers all those years ago? Today he could see the benefit, but that wisdom only came with age had already been established. “You’ll get resistance from them though, and a war will only increase those tensions. We have a tendency to pull family close when things get rough.” That he knew from experience too, but now wasn’t the time. “It will take building faith with the leaders, you won’t get far if you go at it by force and I reckon faith will be an uphill battle. Last I heard the reputation of the Brotherhood in the Lagoon hadn’t changed much, but the Vulcans might be more… palatable to some. Even though they a’int all angels either.” Sex separated the two entities as with most things, but there were exceptions to every rule and he was beginning to wonder on which side Rade would fall. “I take it you may have already introduced them to this idea?” Skepticism had crept into his voice, but judging by the man’s attitude as he had left those mountains he didn’t expect the conversation had necessarily gone well.