castillon of the prairie.

The curtain of leaves made a hushed rustling sound as he let them drop away from her, then pushed his way through them. They tickled his skin as they ran down the slopes of his gold, black, and white coat, making it shiver wherever the little leaves brushed. When the last of the branches fell from his white-capped rump, Castillon flicked his tail and lowered his head, almost trying to make himself somewhat smaller in this already small space. He moved for Aura as she reached for him and found his heart warming, despite all the turmoil they faced, that she still reached for him.

Castillon’s brown eyes warmed on the mare and he wished so terribly this could be nothing more than a fun excursion for the two of them. Bending his muzzle inward toward her, he let his lips touch whatever of her skin he could - at first, a comforting, reassuring touch; then, a lingering one. He breathed a warm sigh against her skin and let his eyelids slowly drift close. He wasn’t intending to sleep; instead, Castillon allowed himself the moment to feel all that self-doubt he pretended didn’t exist. It was easier to take the blows when he was touching Aura and it was quiet and only the two of them.

He began to speak eventually, voice quiet but not quite a whisper. “My father has always raised me to not answer violence with violence; that I have to expect these sorts of challengers to come and try their hand at tearing apart the Prairie’s peace, but I just have to endure; weather. Eventually he says they learn, they stop picking at the Prairie, and we carry on…” He trailed off, his eyelids slowly opening as they narrowed; he began to frown. “And as much as I understand him… I want to punish Garmr for toying with you like this.” He felt a brief flicker of fear that Aura would not like knowing that he had those thoughts toward Garmr, but still, he felt he could confess this truth to her. “I want to hurt him, Aura.”

whoever makes my baby cry is gonna lose some teeth tonight
stallion ∙ mutt ∙ zevulun x riesling ∙ buckskin snowcap ∙ 15.3 hands