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Temblor walks the shoreline, listening to the tide come in, and enjoys another cool evening. This, he has come to realize, is where Paradise must get its name. To his left is an endlessly stretching sky competing with the ocean for control of the horizon. At his feet spreads a fine, soft carpet of glittering white sand, and to his right is the vibrant, verdant greenery of the jungle itself. The air is rich and fragrant, peppered with the aroma of sweet, bright blooms and layered with the interesting calls of myriad wildlife. As the day fades the beach fairly glows with light as it releases the day's heat. A gentle breeze sways the palm trees and the sea itself looks like crystal under a gradient sky bleeding dusky pinks into hearty naval blues.
Everywhere he looks, everything he hears and smells is a bounty of stimuli for each of the senses. Atlantis is a work of art, and Paradise the island's gem. Summering here has certainly had its challenges, but as the days go by and Temblor relaxes into his new routine he appreciates more fully all that his territory has to offer. Nights like these, for instance, he can't quite get enough of, and since returning from his trip to the Crossing has spent every evening walking the length of his beach.
So it is that the shape of a horse standing at the edge of his woods strikes him as out of the ordinary. He abandons his casual stroll for an intentional trot. Thus far he has been blessed with primarily female callers, but Temblor is not one to let a stranger of either sex meander unchallenged through his home, and as he nears he calls out with a hearty nicker to draw the stranger's attention away from the dense shadows of the jungle. A mare, he notes as he closes the distance between them and jogs to an easy stop in the shade cast from the trees. She's washed in a gradient of reds similar to a sunrise, darkest at her points, and the pale pink of her face fading to a sharp white that splashes up the length of her nose to bleed across her forehead.
"The air sits still in those woods," he greets her, nodding at the jungle to his right. "It's much cooler here on the beach where the trees can't trap it. Walk with me," he suggests, sidestepping toward the ocean and offering her a warm smile. "I'm Temblor. This is my Paradise."
TEMBLOR
& swallows you whole
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