Quiet enveloped the crossing in the early hours of the morning. Frost along the leaf-tips muffled the low murmur of life and encouraged those few, poor souls who were awake to slink back into their beds. Rehoboam moved like a quiet ship through the common lands, cleaving a dark path through the silver-tipped grass. He neither hurried nor dawdled, being fairly certain that no one from the Cove would pursue him and having no great urgency in rushing to the Lagoon.

In truth, he wasn't sure what he would find there.

He understood his father's opinion, of course. And that of the Bay… and the Ridge… and the Inlet (he thought). But he had also come to learn that the Lagoon was a part of him, from his birth mother's side. Plus, he had reasoned, the Lagoon had gone quiet… which either meant it was dying or that they were cooking up something more heinous than they had attempted before. He wasn't entirely sure which outcome he hoped for.

At the very least, Reh believed that the Cove would be better protected with someone on the inside that could care about both places. After all, the current animosity that existed between the entire island of Tinuvel and the Lagoon was not helping any of them, if Valka's battered appearance was any indication. They needed to try something different… even if Solomon didn't feel the same way.

Rehoboam moved methodically into the heart of the Lagoon with an easy, swinging stride. His dark-rimmed ears flicked to and fro as he took it all in, trying to picture the elegant mare he'd seen only for his first day as a resident in this swampland. He couldn't remember many details of her face. Only the bright intelligence in her eyes, and the inscrutable expression that she'd worn. When she had disappeared, he had intended to forget her… and he nearly had. Eve was his mother in all matters that truly counted, and Reh knew she would be disappointed in his choice.

But he could no longer deny that the life his father led - of herd owning and mare gathering and in incessant waves of offspring - would never be his preference. Lifting his head, the young stallion called out to the Lagoon an open invitation for company and then lapsed into patient silence, his eyes alight with curiosity.