Falls

With the ending of winter came the welcome return of warmth that melted the marjority of fickle snow that blanketed the Lagoon and turned the already boggy landscape in a quagmire of muck and grime that Rehoboam avoided when he could. Even now, in the midst of another late winter snowsquall, the tobiano knew the land would only partially freeze, leaving dangerous pockets of frigid mud that would suck you in if you were not careful. Having grown up in North, where trees stayed green yearround and grass was quick to brighten at the first sign of warmth to make use of a short growing season, having to spend any amount of time in the interminably brown stage of mid-climate late winter was disheartening.

It was almost enough to drive him out of the Lagoon and back to the Cove... but not quite.

He had duties in the Lagoon, even if they were literally all of his own making. He had Bellona to protect, Azizi to watch over, and Celestine to... well, he wasn't sure what his duty to her was but it certainly didn't involve leaving her to her own devices. He'd felt guilty about the way that he'd all but forced her into the Lagoon for most of her tenure, but somewhere over the past few months something had changed. Their almost-but-not-quite-antagonistic relationship had begun to transform every so slowly into something that more closely resembled friendship... and Reh wasn't entirely sure what to do with that.

He'd claimed her because it had felt like the appropriate thing to do as a new Lagoonie attempting to blend in to the political climate at the time. So had attempting to raid that pretty but surprisingly vicious mare from the Thicket and preventing Shenzi's escape attempt, both of which were things that he heartily regretted now. Still, he couldn't undo them, and so he had learned to live with the consequences, not that there were many. As much as Reh hated to admit it, it seemed easy to turn into the sort of villain his father had always cautioned his children about. There certainly weren't many that were showing up to punish him for his crimes.

The tobiano was ruminating on the past when a familiar lilting voice captured his attention, and he turned toward it with a flicker of suspicion. Celestine was his regular company, so much so that he had even begun to consider making her his official companion just to save him the trouble of warning new Lagoonies to keep their distance from her. But with this familiarity came a routine that had not varied since he'd met her. They flirted or fought or... talked, almost always on Lagoon soil, and then she would disappear to do whatever it was that she did with her alone time.

For her to be calling to him now from outside of the Lagoon spelled a change that made his dark eyes narrow in suspicion as he paced toward her, but did not slow his stride. Celestine might infuriate him often, but time spent with her was always worth it, even if he walked away from it with new scars decorating his body.

Hunger sparked in his eyes the moment he laid eyes upon her spotted figure and his pace quickened. Celestine was the sort of beautiful that turned heads no matter where she went, which was a large part of why Rehboam didn't bother trying to keep her caged in the Lagoon. It was one thing for him to lust over her in the fall when hormones were running high, and another thing to think about his brothers doing the same. It didn't make sense to him why Celestine would be different from the other mares the Lagoon men had claimed - he swore herd-leading was not in his makeup - but she was. The drive to protect her was similar to that he felt for Bellona, but everything else was vastly different.

Neither Bellona (obviously) nor the other Lagoon mares had led him into mental rabbit holes of justifications for a child he neither needed nor wanted, but Celestine had.

The movement sent the patchwork blanket of snow from his back in small clumps that revealed the damp fur beneath, and with the loss came a reminder of what season it remained and how chilly it still was. Eager to both chase away the chill and provoke some sort of reaction from the spotted beauty, Rehoboam didn't bother with polite greetings and settled himself at her side with a playful press of his teeth to her shoulder. He didn't seek to pinch or pull, as he wasn't yet sure if she was beckoning him for bloodshed or conversation, but he, like usual, couldn't keep his hands to himself.

"You called?" He asked impishly, his muzzle having trailed from her shoulder to all but whisper in her ear - a feat that required some stretching. Smirking, he pulled back so that he could try and meet her gaze again. "Couldn't bear to be without me a moment longer?"