It was late, and despite his recent excursions, Caine found he could not sleep. He should be exhausted. Enough to drop down onto the damp earth and truly sleep. Instead, he found his mind racing with thoughts. Memories he should have chosen to forget but somehow didn’t. When he had left the Arch for the Lagoon, Caine knew he was abandoning all attachments. He couldn’t have her, no matter how many times he thought about her.


The moon had reached its peak in the sky when Caine ventured from the murky shadows of his chosen home. Drifting across the falls until he found the roaring water. Letting his green eyes follow it, he gazed up at the mountains cast in the moon’s silvery glow. It did not look of this world, just as it didn’t when he had visited it before as an adventurous colt. Before it had been barred to him.


“Did you make it there?” he murmured to the mountain, but only silence answered him. A knot twisted in Caine’s gut. A feeling he couldn’t put a name to, or one he felt very often, made him decide to do something incredibly stupid. Head turning, he peered among the shadows and trees until he spotted a well-used path. It was only this one time. To see if she had made it there. Nothing bad. Nothing that would cause the Lagoon and Peak to clash further, right? Harmless motivation to check on his friend.


If she wasn’t there, he knew she would still be safely tucked in the Forest with her family.


Leaving behind the falling water, Caine jogged over to the trail before he began to follow it upwards. The light of the moon and the brilliant stars guided him as well as they did last time. With age came stamina, and he was able to make the climb with more vigor than he had as a colt. The scent of women were so strong, nearly suffocating all other scents, and he was sure they felt the same any time they stepped foot in the Lagoon.


Suddenly, he could smell her. It was barely there, a wisp among the flood of mare scents. But Caine recognized it, and he followed it. Though he remained vigilant of his surroundings, he stubbornly continued until he finally spotted the greying red mare alone. Why was she not with the herd? Had she not formed a bond with the sisterhood that she wanted? A million questions entered Caine’s mind and it took everything in him not to go rushing over and demand to know.


She was here. She was safe. He should turn around and go back to his chosen home and not linger here to be caught.


Caine ventured closer, giving a low rumbling sound that was barely above a whisper. He didn’t want to be caught, but he couldn’t leave without at least speaking to her for a moment. That would be enough. It would have to be.


“Titan.” he whispered her name. A warmth to the sound that had never been given to anyone else. No longer a gangly filly, she was filling out, and he couldn’t help but appreciate everything about her. Caine wondered if she would see the changes and approve of them in him too. “I had to see for myself. If you had made it here.” He offered her a small smile, though knew what this meant. Knew that from now on they would be enemies.