Fall has only barely arrived on the islands, but already the frost has begun to take hold of Tinuvel in the early mornings. Pine needles crunch beneath a layer of it as Fell and Khoshekh make their way along the fast-moving river that runs down from the Cove’s mountain and through the Bay to the sea. The river is not loud, but the rest of the territory is quiet, and the rushing of the white water is the only sound Fell can hear.

They walk in silence, as usual; as a colt, Khoshekh used to uphold one-sided conversations with his father, prompting the occasional nod or snort as Fell’s only contribution. As he grew older (and Fell suspected the chatty Una might have had something to do with this) Khoshekh seemed less concerned with filling the silence, and had grown a bit quieter in his own way.

They stray away from the river, its rushing fading slightly into the background, replaced by the soft crunching of hooves upon frosty pine needles and gentle blows of air from the two stallions. As the sounds of the river grow even fainter, the silence is suddenly broken by the skittering of hooves not far away, and the playful voices of Charmeine and Parisa. Fell’s head bobs up from its lazy, low position, his hooked ears flicking forward at the sound. There is a moment of delighted squeals as the sisters barrel through the woods, just far away enough to be out of sight, before the tone turns panicky.

There is a quiet crash somewhere ahead of them, too far to see or to hear which one of them lost their footing. Fell pushes forward, Khoshekh close behind, both of them alarmed but neither truly afraid just yet. No screams immediately follow the crash, anyway, which Fell takes as a good sign.

The trees give way and Fell and Khoshekh peer down the beach toward a dark tangle of gangly limbs in the sand. Where they have emerged from the forest is far less of a drop off than where Parisa has fallen, so Fell leaps easily down onto the coarse beach. Khoshekh close behind, the Marwari stallion lopes toward the sisters and halts a few strides away, observing. Charmeine picks her way carefully down the steep incline to check on her younger sister, who stands with a little difficulty. Fell huffs in satisfaction, his anxiety dissolving as he sees the young filly on her feet again without his help.

He begins to turn back to the forest again and leave the sisters to their play when he hears Parisa ask to see the ocean. He stops, his dark head swiveling to watch them again, but he does not intervene. He only observes; he has no intention of letting any of his children get hurt, but nothing teaches a lesson like organic consequence. Anyway… it’s not like he can tell them it’s dangerous. He can only drag them out of the tide if they decide to get friendly with it.

FELL

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