The mute stallion had not expected to see Bluechild again in the Bay, or anywhere, really. When she had left, Fell assumed she had left of her own volition; it had not seemed out of character for the spirited blue mare to do whatever she wanted, without asking anyone’s permission. The scent of her captor had not been a stallion, and so it had not raised suspicion within the Bay stallion. It isn’t until he catches the call of a young mare - a voice he does not immediately recognize after the growth of its owner - does he wonder.

The voice is familiar, vaguely, both in that he feels a tickle of a memory at the sound of it, and in its tone. The mare behind the cry does not sound lost, or curious, or in need of help. It is an announcement of home.

Fell tears toward the beach, his hooked ears forward with anticipation, dark tail snapping in the brisk spring air. The sticky coniferous trunks race past him in a gray blur, until they part ahead of him, and the beach stretches out flat and shining under the sun. Two figures dot the shoreline, dark and darker, and Fell doesn’t slow until he is nearly on top of them.

The excitement is that of a giddy colt courting his first filly. He is oblivious to the exhaustion and pain on the white-slashed face of Blue, aware only of his own emotions in this moment, and he tosses his head with vigor and throws his weight onto his hindquarters to stop. His front hooves lift in a rear, and Fell comes down with a breathy grunt, his blunt teeth parted to grasp Blue by the crest and give her a proper thrashing. It isn’t until his hooves find the sand once again (or she fights him off, whichever happens first) that he turns his attention to the lanky black mare at her side.

He does recognize her, now that some of his energy has been dissolved. He wonders where the other twin is, and his tail snaps at his flanks as Fell casts his yellow-gold gaze back toward the forest.

Perhaps Asana will speak to him again, now that Akulu has been returned to her. The blue-eyed filly had been a shell since her twin had been taken, and seemed to have blamed Fell. There was little the black stallion could do to change her mind, so he had largely left her alone, watching over her from a distance and pretending he did not hurt. He feels foolish now, looking back on it, to think that Blue would have left one child willingly. All the anger he had felt, all the betrayal, is washed away suddenly by a wave of guilt. He does not know the extent of what happened, but Fell knows that if Blue had wanted to be gone, she would not have returned.

FELL

stallion. 16hh. black. marwari x. Rougaru x visurix.