Falls

It had not been easy sneaking away from his mother. She was ferociously protective of him, even though not a single one of the Peak mares had showed more than a passing interest in him. However, as she grew more and more uncomfortable with her pregnancy, he had been able to stretch his leash further and further until at last he'd managed to dash beyond the borders of the Peak and into the wide open land of the meadow.

He didn't have long, he knew, but this was only a trial run. Soon he would make a break for Paradise, for his home. For the person he knew cared about him. As he matured, he was more and more coming to realize that his mother didn't love him because of who he was, or what he wanted. She loved him for what he could do for her. For the way his existence gave her hook over Rougaru, and for the way that no one else could claim him.

When he was very young she had told him that his father was a stallion named Devil's Retribution. A man of pure white color that had been charming, but unreliable. It was clear from the way that she spoke of him that she harbored resentment, although he had not yet deciphered why. His mother was a temperamental creature, and any inquiries as to the reasoning why she did anything was as likely to be met with an explanation as it was with bared teeth and punishment or cold, stony silence.

And in truth? He didn't care. Devil's Retribution had not existed for him as anything deeper than a memory of a name. He had never met the man, and for all intents and purposes, Rougaru had served as a father figure to him for as long as he could remember. Being apart from him was frustrating, if only because he understood that his mother's explanation of their "escape" had massive holes. She claimed that Rougaru had threatened to separate them, but that made no sense to him. Why would Rougaru want him gone? It made far more sense for him to consider the possibility that she had simply twisted the story to fit her needs.

But then, what was the real story?

The lean yearling huffed a sigh as he slowed to a walk along the edge of the Falls runoff, side-eyeing the quiet stream with something akin to disdain. Everything was so boring here on the mainland. The birds were muted and shy, the flowers the same no matter where he went, and the world was quiet at night. It didn't chatter with the calls of various wildlife throughout the wee hours of the morning. He missed Paradise, and the company of his father more than he knew how to express.

Finally, he slows, dropping his muzzle to the water with a glum sigh. He just needed to endure for a little longer, until his mother gave birth to this child and then he would be able to escape.