The happy whinny that drifted across the open Prairie grounds and to him immediately lifted his heart. Zevulun smiled as he glanced ahead to see the streak of gold and black and white that was one of his daughters. Hael, one his and Aurelie’s little treasures. She was as beautiful as her mother and as kind and sweet too, though he could sense a boldness and a want to explore stirring inside her as she grew older. Zevulun had long ago decided his days of exploration and travel needed to be set behind him, but he found himself thinking of his and Aurelie’s beach and how long it had been since they’d last gone. What if he suggested to her that she, Hael, and Lohan accompany him there for half of a day? They could easily make the swim to Atlantis, relive happy memories of when they’d first grown close among the golden shores, and watch their children experience the different island for the first time, too. Just the idea alone was enough to warm him, and Zevulun’s smile deepened happily. It also was enough to temporarily calm the panic he felt any time he thought of needing to leave the Prairie, no matter how short the trip may be.

He gave a toss of his head and a returned nicker, though it rumbled much deeper in his chest, his pale hair snapping in the motion before it settled back over his muscled neck and his forelock rested down his broad forehead. Hael approached him, circling him and enveloping him in her cheerful aura.

“Have they?” He asked with curiosity in his voice, glancing off toward the distant direction the Thicket lay, though he couldn’t see the trees from here. “That sounds rather pretty,” he admitted, looking back at his daughter, and smiling at her enthusiasm. “I think I might like to see them.”

He glanced around them, then looked down as he shifted his weight to pick up one front leg, set it down, and did the same to the other, as though he was gauging how well is legs were working. In truth, he was well enough – despite the ugly scars across his back leg, he had healed well and wasn’t feeling any irritation, even from all the travel he’d just done to Tinuvel and back. After studiously seeming to check his legs, he tilted his head as he glanced at his daughter.

“Wanna race me to them?” He asked, but didn’t exactly wait for an answer. Zevulun only grinned a little wider, a bit of a mischievous light in his glacial blue eyes, before he turned away from her and lurched forward, pushing into the soft soil and bursting through the tall autumn grasses to begin to run, knowing it wouldn’t take long at all for Hael to be in pursuit. A laugh drifted out of him as he ran, a happy noise to fill the Prairie, which had too many sorrowful ones the last few years.