Khoshekh watches his father drive the pale golden mare out of the sea and onto the shore, where she stamps a defiant hoof at him. He is a little too far away, fairly well hidden in the shade of the forest’s edge where aspens and other deciduous trees make up most of the woods, to make out the details in their expressions, but he doesn’t need to. He’s old enough now to understand this dance, particularly with Fell.

The scarred black stallion appears to have very little interest in the golden mare beyond getting her to the Bay, and once she stamps at him, he leaves her. Kho hangs back a little longer, watching his sire abandon his captive on the cold Tinuvel shore, before approaching.

He doesn’t get very close, stopping maybe a few strides away. He’s close enough to smell the Badlands on her. “Rafe, or Raegar?” he asks by way of greeting. “He doesn’t bother anyone these days but those two. If you came from Raegar, don’t worry — he’ll let you go in a few days. He just likes to fight him.” The raven-black stallion dips his head politely, then adds, “I’m Kho. Fell is my father.”

From behind him, he can feel the sharp yellow gaze of the beast of the Bay, watching with interest. There is no way to know Fell’s exact motives for anything he does, though many of them are brutish enough not to need an explanation anyway. Khoshekh has given up trying to puzzle anything out about his father, but a few of his curiosities aren’t so bad. His feuding with Rafe and Raegar are both equally confusing to the young stallion, but one of them infinitely more insidious than the other. Khoshekh hates the bad blood between his father and Rafe — probably hates Rafe more than Fell does, for reasons not always entirely logical, but nobody can hate Fell more than Fell does.

At least with Raegar, their battles seem a little less destructive. Both of them appear to simply enjoy beating each other up. He feels bad for this mare his father has left shivering on the beach, though, even if the stocky black stallion has no plans to harm her; he thinks she must be at least a little frightened under her defiance. “Would you like me to show you the hot springs?” he asks a little guiltily. “You can warm up and rest a little.”

stallion | black | 16.1hh | Fell x Kohelet