Falls

Solomon's thoughts were muddied as he landed on the shore of the Crossing. He'd worried over the implications of what he'd learned on Atlantis and about what it would mean for the future. His heart broke all over again with the news that he would have to impart to Sevket, and the knowledge that his nights would only continue to be more and more lonely.

The longer he thought about it, the angrier he became at himself and at Rouagru and at Cicek. So much of this pain and anguish could have been avoided with a little bit of communication and yet here he was, heartbroken and fairly certain that his long-held alliance was either in shambles or close to it. For months he'd agonized over whether or not she was alive, let alone safe. Sleepless nights and midnight circuits around the Cove had become his normal and all for what? She was alive. And safe. And a mother, again.

Just not with him.

By the time the lean tobiano had sloshed his way through the receding waves and up the sandbank, he was near shaking in fury and desperate to find some relief from the feeling. Each new angry thought pinged bullet-like through his mind, bouncing off the edges and slicing through any attempt he made to calm down.

What he wanted was a release. Whether it be the satisfaction of combat or sex or arguing or even just reducing a tree to sticks, he didn't really care. He needed something else to focus on or he knew he would do something that he would regret. Something like burn his entire alliance to the ground and salt the earth behind him, or force Cicek to return to him and to her family in the Cove, regardless of whether this baby survived the swim or not.

He needed her, but she didn't seem to need him anymore.

A glimmer of gold ahead catches his eye and for one heart-stopping moment, he thought he had found Harley Quinn again. The age would be right - young but no longer a filly - but the markings and build were different and a sigh (of relief or dismay he wasn't sure) rushed out. Where his Quinn had been plain apart from the rich golden hue of her coat, this woman had subtle flares of exoticness to her that drew his gaze in and allowed him to appreciate the finer details. The subtle dish of her face added further elegance to the blaze that defined it, and he found his gaze traveling along the feminine curves of her body to admire the play of her pale tail as it swiped across her body.

Later he will hate himself for the way it makes desire curl hungrily in the pit of his belly, despite the fact that fall is still days away. The sight of her - young and innocent and unspoiled - makes a part of him strangely nostalgic for the days before he'd allowed himself to be civilized by these islands. For one bright blazing moment, he wishes he was still the stallion that could drop his head and herd her back to the Cove without sparing a single thought as to whether or not she might like it there. The same stallion who, in a few day's time, might have taken her body beneath him to sate his own desire without caring for her opinion on the matter. Strangely enough, these thoughts help to channel the chaotic pinging of his grief into some semblance of focus, and with monumental effort, Solomon shoves these thoughts to the side. They lurk there, jeering at him with memories of the pleasure he'd once found in such barbarity.

Their influence is strong enough to have already decided Solomon on the matter of where this girl will go next, but not so overpowering that he intends to do so by force.

The Cove King lifts his head and nickers toward her before trotting in her direction, his neck bowed handsomely and amber tail flagged out behind him. As he approaches, he continues to study her, noticing the rapt way she stares at the beautiful waterfall that serves as this territory's focal point. "It's pretty, is it not?" He says by way of greeting, drawing to a halt before her with ears pricked forward. "It's fitting I should find someone this beautiful admiring it."

With a crooked grin, he extends his muzzle toward her to exchange breath and waits eagerly for the brush of her enticing lips against his own. When he can assume that they are close, he speaks again, his voice intimate in the reduced space between them. "I'm Solomon. It's good to meet you...?" He trails off into a question as he pulls back, his green eyes twinkling.

Solomon