Though Kune is swifter in a straight line, he is also larger and heavier than the young colt, and with the momentum of his strong hindquarters powering him, it takes him a few extra strides to safely plant his forehooves in the earth and bring himself to a halt that kicks up a cloud of dust and sends pebbles scattering. By this time the colt has twisted his lithe little body to the side and away from Kune. Thankfully the boy does not run again, but stands, trembling and with heaving breaths, staring back at Kune with wild, frightened eyes.
Snorting the dust from his nostrils, Kune blinks with bewilderment at the colt’s words. It’s then he realizes that the child is afraid of him, and though at first he cannot understand why, Kune immediately adopts a less threatening posture, slackening his neck and softening his expression. His heart is thumping heavily in his chest, however, and only partially from the physical exertion of their chase. He has not looked into the guileless brown eyes of one of his people’s children for years; in all truth, he had assumed they were all dead. Yet here is one before him, with flecks of gray running through his dark pelt. He is not just a child. He is a Dotkl.
For a long few moments both stallion and colt stare at each other, the only sound their labored breathing. To Kune it feels as though they are both tangled in the same web of shock, but there’s no telling whether the gleam in the child’s eye is evidence that he understands the significance of this situation. Perhaps to the child Kune is only a very tall, strange grown-up who had given chase after the colt had taunted him. Yet what the colt says next indicates that he does, in fact, understand the gravity of their situation at least to some degree, and Kune feels a bloom of hope in his stomach.
He twists back one ear at the child’s questions, and mulls over how to answer them for several moments. “Přišel jsem ze stáda v zemi velmi daleko odtud. Jsem poslední z nich a jsem několik let sám,” he explains, his voice deep but clear, like the thunder of a waterfall. “Dítě, ty a já jsme stejní lidé. Proč jsi také sám v tak mladém věku?”
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