Meadow

It was not often that Emhyr wandered from the Bay, but more and more lately he felt that foreign itch beneath his skin, the stirring deep in his gut that spurred him towards the border.

The Bay had been blessedly quiet. But where Emhyr once would have reveled in the peace and solitude, he now found it discomfiting. He had grown accustomed to the rambunctious antics of his children, the easy conversation that would flow between himself and Eythora, the exhilirating sparring sessions he often took part in with Vhagar. But his children were grown now, and he had not seen hide nor hair of Eythora and Vhagar in weeks. It was a thought he refused to analyze too closely, lest he be consumed in anxiety.

Truth be told, Emhyr was lonely. Perhaps, were he a younger stallion, he might not mind the solitude, but he had grown so accustomed to the company of others that the silence felt strange now. Perhaps that was what ultimately drove him from the Bay, seeking foreign shores where he might find someone with which to pass the time and ease the growing void of solitude that steadily grew within him.

It was the dead of night by the time Emhyr stepped hoof into the Meadow. The pale moon hung full and bright and the stars twinkled merrily at him, smattered across the sky like specks of sparkling paint. The dark stallion heaved a sigh as he settled at the edge of the forest, having resigned himself to spending the wee hours of the morning alone, until the world began to stir and company might present itself to him.

Certainly he did not expect anyone to be lingering at this time of night, and so it came as a mighty surprise when he heard a voice somewhere to his left. Emhyr, having been entrenched in thoughts of home and family, startled, his gaze snapping towards the source of the voice. His eyes landed on a young mare, a short and stocky creature with a coat that gleamed in hues of silver and ivory beneath the light of the moon.

Despite the unexpectedness of her arrival, he was happy to lay eyes on another. Emhyr peered down at her and felt a flash of sympathy as he watched a shiver shake her petite body.

"Not at all," Emhyr murmured, shifting to make room for her beneath the skeletal branches of the swaying oaks, "I know exactly what you mean. I'm only watching the stars, but I'd be glad for your company." A ghost of a smile - that he hoped was more amiable than awkward - tugged at the edges of his lips. Emhyr waited for her to settle in, then turned his gaze back to the star-speckled sky, grateful that he would not have to sit in silence alone, if only for a night.