Common

"Well don't you look like a ray of sunshine?" I hadn't bothered to hide my approach, taking no great care to deviate from my aimless path down the beach, turning at the last few meters to join her rather than pass her. She looked about as happy as I felt, her pretty face scrunched up into a dour expression. I was curious enough to find out what had irritated her, and rather bored of my own indecision about where to go next.

Nahawi's claim, defeat, and eventual choice to repeat my steps across the Commons had thrown me for a number of loops that even I - as the chronically overprepared son of Vanya - had not expected. The red-eyed demon that had eventually taken him down was not familiar to me, but the tropical scent that hovered in the massive imprints of his hooves was. Paradise.

The urge to go back had hovered in the back of my mind ever since, and I suppose it was mostly only stubbornness that kept me here, of all places.

"The sweetest flowers draw the most bees or some other nonsense like that." I settled into place with feigned ease, letting a hip cock as my dark tail drifted across my hocks. My gaze had fixed on her the moment I spotted her, and I offered her a smile as my head tilted fractionally to the side in inquiry. "Or have I simply missed the mark and social etiquette has shifted to grimaces instead of grins?"

Was I baiting her? Perhaps. It wasn't entirely intentional, but not wholly innocent either. I wasn't sure what to do with myself after being claimed, then freed, then watching my "claimer" abandon his own fate to the Crossing. In truth, having watched the massive brute approach and attack Nahawi, I found myself rather grateful to have been spared whatever feuds the man had caused on the islands. I thought my father had had enemies, but Rougaru apparently paled in comparison to the unassuming red dun.

Not my problem anymore, I reminded myself, sharpening my gaze on the spotted mare. She was bound to be approached at any moment by someone who could offer her a home, which meant free entertainment as far as I was concerned. And I had a front-row seat.