Paradise has been quiet, far too quiet for his liking.

There had been a time, many seasons ago when the silver buckskin used to complain openly about how crowded the jungle territory was. Despite the size of their boundaries, the old wolf had amassed quite a collection of mares and children here. In those days, he used to swear that the horses that called this place home seemed determined to outvoice the songbirds that found refuge here when winter took its hold on the other islands farther north. It used to irritate him to no end. Now… now he wished he could hear those voices once more.

He missed taunting the older mares. The ones who saw him as nothing more than a spoiled child instead of the true heir he knew himself to be. He missed roughhousing with his siblings, and even the colts and fillies younger than him were not safe from his attention. More than anything, he missed the small family that he had started to build here with Vihar and the reluctant Hyacinth. The feisty mares were never short on quick and witty comebacks for his smart remarks. Holo was the only child who dared to remain close to her sire but even she had strayed in hopes of starting her own life beyond the watchful eyes of her father. It was not like he ever imagined she could bring a suitor home he would actually approve of anyway.

The very things that he used to claim (and complain loudly) about were now actually missed. The chattering voices brought life to the high and low tones of the migrating birds' voices. The near constant feeling of not being alone, of always feeling watched by one set of eyes or another…. Even that he missed now as his sterling body wove down the worn game trail and ducked beneath a low-hanging branch. Audibly he sighs, his frustration mounting. He had been successful at least, in convincing Hymn and her darling daughter to return to Paradise with him but it was not enough to fill the void left by what had once been. Lucifer kept his word and made a point of patrolling the northernmost borders with reverence, leading Annubis to believe that the black stallion was indeed trying to hide away some little prize. He pondered not for the first time, whether or not he ought to see this little prized toy that kept the obsidian stallion so occupied. However, there was something in the strange bloodshot red of the beast that kept his curiosity at bay. He would much rather keep the stallion as a friend than face him as an enemy, especially considering he had some apparent ties to the Lagoon.

So once more, the gray wolf finds himself sliding free of the dappled sunlight that filtered through the palms above and once more onto the sun-warmed sandy beach. Paper-thin nostrils flare, and the salty air is inhaled in a deep breath before exhaling slowly, measured. Yellow-gold eyes blink rapidly as he adjusts to the brightness of the sunlight. Fierce eyes send a sweeping gaze down the serene beachscape before him…. But nothing beyond the occasional crest of silver fish among the waves is visible to catch his attention.been laid…