Where am I gonna go, the Lagoon?

Runar can still hear the amusement in Suleiman's voice. That slight laugh has sat in his soul and eaten away at his insides ever since he had left his friend back on Tinuvel. Runar had known before he joined the Lagoon that its members wore the dark cloak of infamy, their deeds passed around in whispers between the passers-by on the Crossing. Yet Runar had assumed the tales were hyperbole: stories to scare young colts into becoming well-behaved young herd stallions.

He has not yet spent enough time among the Lagoon stallions to decide whether this is true or not, but one, one late spring day, he experiences his first real piece of evidence that there might be something to the stories.

Runar has known ever since he was a colt that he has an older brother wandering the isles. He also knows that his brother's name is Torsten, but Ylva has told Runar little else about him or their other siblings. Runar has never before encountered another horse that resembles himself or his mother, however, so when he had first spied the young overo stallion, he had experienced a sense of deja vu that was like a kick in the stomach. The stallion was taller and leaner than himself, but wore the same pale russet coat as Ylva that was marred with patches of white along his sides. He was familiar enough to tickle at Runar's suspicions but not so familiar as to embolden Runar to approach him.

Instead Runar has watched him for days, wondering.

It's this same stallion that Runar sees one day, giving chase to another young stallion who had been racing good-spiritedly across a flat stretch of the Lagoon. The latter had irritated Runar with his enthusiasm initially, but - seeing the overo stallion go after him so aggressively - Runar feels something stir within him. He knows how it feels to be bullied by someone bigger and older than you. But, uncertain as to whether this is simply how Lagoon brothers bond, he approaches at a cautious walk, lowering his head to pretend he is busy grazing.

His dark eyes, however, are watchful.