The silver stallion never expected to feel the warmth begin to blossom again in his soul as he gazed at the young girl. Never in his wildest imagination did he think that when he set off that morning in search of the elusive mother and daughter pair, he would draw such a deep attachment to them. Not so quickly anyway.

Vihar’s merry game of chase across the islands and Hyacinth’s vicious bite has taught him more than one lesson in life and that is that regardless of his intentions, somehow the gods can manage to twist things awry with a quickness. In this instance, however, the sterling beast is happy with the turn of events. Usually, things never ended so well for him. The list was far too long for him to begin to compile now and it was far too depressing to dredge up the memories all at once.

But Hymn and Promise were precious to him, and not just because they meant that even he was no longer alone. Sure Lucifer lurked somewhere around the northern edge of Paradise with whatever mares he held captive in the shadows (because to be honest, that is the only way Annubis can imagine someone would follow him…. Against their will), but the black hessian was far from pleasant company and were it not for that ill-managed wager, Annubis would have liked nothing more than to throw his ass into the ocean and wipe his paws of him completely.

Speaking of Lucifer…. Annubis makes a mental note to warn Hymn of the bastard. So far, the black stallion had kept his word and remained well within the confines of his imaginary borders. But still, Annubis would feel much better if the gentle mare was aware of the red-eyed demon and HE would feel even more at ease if he knew Promise was far away from that particular nightmare… or… night-stallion.

’..It’s not far from here…’ Hymn’s gentle voice stirs his thoughts away from Lucifer and back to the present. A warmth dances behind his glittering yellow-gold eyes as he watches the filly prancing in front of them excitedly. Had it felt this way with Holo? He couldn’t remember. He hoped that he drew as much excitement and adoration in the eyes of his own offspring as was evident in the interactions between mother and daughter but he doubted it. Hymn was more like the nickname he had first given here than expected. Gentle and soothing. A far cry from the brash, cocky, and abrasiveness of his own personality.