♞
He had been waiting on this day for a long time. Sure, it was fun playing with Gavriel, Reh, and Suleiman, but he knew there was more out there. His mother and sister told him plenty about the other islands. They used to live on one called Salem in a desert. Just the idea of all that sand made him wrinkle his nose, but there was probably more room to run there too and that sounded like fun. He did love to run. He could race with the best of them! He liked to challenge his mother and his sister to races on the regular and he usually beat them too! Raptor liked to say she was letting him win but as he got older, he swore he would beat her for real. If there was a desert island then there had to be other kinds of islands too and Galahad was curious about them. Sure, it was safe in the cove and he loved it there, but since he was a yearling now, he needed to see more, do more.
Watching Solomon, he found his male role model and wanted to be as active as he was. Solomon was never still. He left the island often but came back often too and was always attentive to his herd when they needed him. He smelled of other places all the time and left Galahad more curious every time he was around him. He did finally ask his mother about his true father and was a little disappointed to find out Solomon wasn't really his dad. It didn't change how he felt about the stallion but he asked more questions. He knew his real father was a stallion called Bahadir and that he used to live with his mother and sister in the desert. They weren't sure where he was now but Galahad told himself he would find him along the way if he was still around. He wouldn't make it his main mission, but he did want to meet his father, at least to put a face to the name.
The swim from the cove to the crossing didn't take too long and Galahad was barely winded when he washed up on the shore of the falls. Shaking out his coat, he looked around with his nostrils flared, tasting all the new scents on the wind. His tail went up like a banner as he tore off across the grass, racing like the wind. A whinny of joy left his lips as he kicked up his heels and showed his excitement. Who would be around to entertain him?