Falls

Solomon

Winter wind skipped along the surface of the land, sending currents of loose snowflakes swirling in small eddies before him. The breeze pushed him along in his aimless path, steering him steadily toward the Falls and the promise of the respite that it offered. It was not that he was unhappy with life in the Cove, for his home was steadily but surely becoming the manifestation of everything that he had hoped for, but even a king needed a change of scenery every once in a while. As his mares grew more gravid and testy as their due dates approached, he had taken to running border patrols more and more often, but this morning they had not brought him peace.

Daciana's warning of the darkness that would come as a result of the Inlet herd's presence had not fallen on deaf ears, and while he did not yet have a solution to their current situation, he pondered it often. Solomon couldn't rightly abandon his ally in need, but he also had no great love of trying to live alongside a dethroned king who resented his new place in life. The Cove was a powderkeg just waiting for the right spark, and it put the tobiano on edge.

Eventually, he found himself on the familiar trails of the Crossing Isle, secure in the knowledge that Warsaw and his other guards would keep the mares of the Cove safe from other stallions. He often found himself here, hungry for the sense of novelty and adventure that could be found when you didn't know what was coming next. Would it be a potential ally he came across? A new mare to bring home to the Cove? Or maybe even one of those that he had already been eyeing, such as Desdemona or Ylva. He hoped, somewhat irrationally, that Bjorn would stay away. The longer he could avoid the grulla, the longer he had to contemplate which side of the fence that he wanted to stand on in Tinuvel.

The image of someone willingly submersing themselves in the frigid water broke him from his trail of thoughts and his motion ceased as he stopped to stare. In the limited light, she seemed half wraith, half apparition. Her dark figure melded into the swirling depths of the water, save the beautiful planes of her pale face as she stared at her own reflection. She almost didn't seem real, as though fate had thrown a siren into his path to lead him further astray. What other type of creature would willingly descend into the cold water of the Falls in the midst of winter, oblivious to the chill therein?

Not that it stopped him. In truth, it would probably be a mare that led him to his doom eventually. After a long moment spent admiring her from afar, Solomon began to pick his way closer to the bathing mare. He nickered softly, not wanting to disrupt the quiet moment farther than he needed to, and settled near the shore where the snow faded into mud.

"Is it as cold as it looks?" His voice is low, a small half-grin forming on his lips as he considered her position in the swirling pool. The swim here from Tinuvel had been cold enough, and that was through saltwater that had been warmed by the sun, not a pool of water fed by mountain springs. It made him wonder what had encouraged her into the Fall's runoff, and he couldn't help but wonder if there was some recent trauma that made her seek the relief of numbness.

Dutch Harness Horse Mutt | Champagne Grullo Tobiano Stallion | 17 Hands | The Cove