Falls

Raegar had, again, lost to the Tinuvel stallion, but he could not bring himself to be too disappointed yet. Not while the high of the adrenaline remained coursing through his veins and the thrill of the fight had not yet faded. It was unfortunate that he would not be able to bring Akulu home, but this was not the end. There was always next season, and the next after that... plus any other dalliances he could find in between, too. Surely Fell could not keep her constantly guarded. Some way or another he'd be able to find his way back to her side again.

The young overo shook himself off as he emerged from the surf and strode up the beach, only a slight bit lame from his misadventures. Sooner or later one of them would end up wounding each other past the point of being able to retreat, but that was an issue for the future. Raegar still genuinely wasn't sure if Fell would kill him or not, if given the chance.

Distracted as he was, the trip between the coast and the falls flew by and before he knew it he was standing before the roaring stream, mouth watering at the prospect of a drink. There was, however, someone in his way.

His gaze started on her face first, noting the feminine shape of it, the way her forelock draped prettily over eyes that were both wary and soft. The drops of water that escaped her pursed lips trailed down her chin and trembled on her whisker for a moment before dropping. Unabashed, he followed the arch of her neck over the rest of her body, more loudly patterned than any other creature he'd ever seen before, and found his gaze catching on her rump, mystified by a sudden smattering of glittering speckles.

"What is that on your back?" His voice was a low hum of curiosity, delivered as he drew closer to the pretty freckled mare, his gaze affixed to the snowflakes that frosted her back. They were near invisible against the white of her coat, mostly discernable by the change in texture from downy fluff to glittering ice. It was not that Raegar had never seen snow. He had seen it before, of course, several times now, when he'd visited the Bay to punch and be punched by the curly-eared stallion that ruled there.

However, snow on the ground had never laid itself so elegantly across anyone's back, much less fit there so perfectly as it did on this mare's back, more accessory than happenstance. And while he understood the concept of how snow arrived in theory, he had yet to witness it for himself. He still struggled a bit with the idea that tiny pieces of ice could form up in the sky and then fall down like rain. Duststorms, at least, made sense. He could understand the wind driving across the land and gathering loose soil and debris, but snow?

Nonsense.

He ambled closer than was strictly appropriate, but there was no malice in him, only open curiosity, and stretched to try and blow a warm breath against her ice-dusted skin. He hadn't missed that she was a pretty young mare, all on her own in the middle of a season where he often thought more with hormones than clarity, but he wasn't in a rush. His hip still throbbed from his earlier battle, and even thinking too hard about running after a reluctant mare made him wince.

And there was a part of him that still wanted her approval; wanted to see her smile the way Hawa had, to look at him without fear. If he could not woo her, he knew what decision he would make, but he wanted to try first. She seemed worth trying for.

young stallion - mutt - seal bay overo - 15.1h - rafe x velahrn