ooc: set RIGHT after Fell’s fight with Raegar

Fell is still wild and lathered from the battle, his eyes burning and rolling as he paces the beach and watches Raegar’s form disappear into the froth. This fight had seemed different, more desperate; less cathartic. Fell is always ready for a scuffle, especially with Rafe’s seal bay son; Raegar puts up an excellent fight, and Fell feels the echoes of his blows long after the action dies down. Better yet, he can tell that the painted stallion sometimes seems to fight just for the sheer joy of fighting, and Fell is always happy to oblige. After not seeing Raegar for some time, Fell was more than eager — even a little relieved — to feel the thunderous impact of hooves against ground and flesh.

But Raegar was different. Something had happened in that time since Fell had fought for and won Amaris. He was much thinner, and seemed to enjoy the beating far less than in their past battles. Afterwards, Fell had a split second fear that he had done something wrong, before dismissing that as ridiculous. Maybe he would make his way to the Badlands some time during the winter, and pick another fight just to make sure everything had gone back to normal.

Fell shakes out his mane with a grunt, the muscles of his neck burning and twitching with exertion. He turns away from the shore and stands on the edge of the beach, staring into the Bay a gaze that had burnt down to a quiet smolder rather than a blaze. He scans the trees for Foxglow, the would-be prize of favorite enemy. Truthfully, he wouldn’t have been terribly upset if Raegar had made off with her. Fell is aware that his twin daughters have both chosen Raegar in the Badlands; he is confident they would not be there if they were ill treated. Besides, Fell has met few stallions who fight as viciously as the overo stallion, so he trusts that they are safe. If anyone was going to steal from him successfully, Fell would prefer it to be Raegar.

Fell doubts that Foxglow is aware of any of this. She had come to him recently, in the autumn, and hadn’t been around enough to witness the back and forth between himself and the Badlands stallion. He expects Raegar has given her a bad scare, and worries that perhaps he has as well with the way he had fought for her. He trots heavily and tiredly into the forest, muzzle raised and nostrils flared to draw in her scent. When he sees her golden coat through the trees, his pace quickens, and he draws near to her with a worried rumble and whuff of hot breath that steams in the cold air. She’s a new addition to the Bay herd, but that doesn’t make her any less valuable to him, and he inspects her for any signs of harm.