As the weeks and months drag on, the Bay remains eerily quiet. Emhyr grew more ill at ease with each day that Fell did not return, spending long hours patrolling the borders, gambling on the slim chance that he may finally find his wayward sire. Several times he had considered plunging himself into the frigid ocean and scouring the islands top to bottom, but the knowledge that his family was here, that they need someone to watch over them, stayed his course every time. Though, to be fair, it seemed most of his father's herd had chosen to leave the Bay behind - that, or they were simply playing the world's longest game of hide and seek. Emhyr tried to hold out hope that they would make appearances in due time, though as the seasons changed he became more disheartened.

At least he still had his mother and siblings - some of them, at least. Emhyr had been meaning to seek Kohelet out, if only to see how she was faring in Fell's absence, but... he wasn't sure how. He wasn't sure what to say. Every time he tried to think of some way to break the ice, the words seemed to knot themselves together in his mind, a thick tangle of questions that lodged itself at the back of his tongue. He'd never been particularly adept at the whole... emotions thing, at connecting with others on anything more than a superficial level - even his own parents.

A heavy sigh escaped the young king's lips as he ambled down the beach. The sun was sinking low in the sky, tinting the Bay in a vivid orange-red hue. The smell of salt filled his nose, the steady rhythm of the waves the metronome to which he set his pace.

Company was the last thing he was expecting, but as Emhyr's gaze slid over the horizon, over the beach that stretched out in a crooked road before him, he noticed movement. The dark stallion squinted against the light, trying to make out the details of the sun-shrouded figure that approached. "Hello," he called out, dark head dipping briefly as his pace slowed steadily to a halt. "Er... are you... well? Can I help you with something?" Dark lips purse into a taut line, his expression tightening as he chastised himself for the inadequacy of his greeting.