As Garmr emerges from the shadows and vegetation, Ainaz is quick to change her position. A few rapid steps placing her between the beast that had appeared, and the filly that now stood behind her. At first his green eyes were only for Ainaz. To gage her reaction to his appearance. To see if her eyes blaze with fire or hurt to his long absence, or if her legs quiver with the need to flee or fight. But she does neither as her eyes drink him in as if he were the first source of water she has found in days.


Briefly, his green eyes flick behind the petite mare to the filly who had still not moved. He can tell by her stance and the roundness of her eyes, that she is torn between curiosity and fear. She reminds him of a fawn caught moving from their hiding place. But since the mother had not given the cue to flee, silent curiosity and wariness were the answer for now as she stood stiff legged and watchful.


It is Ainaz’s murmur that brings the stallion’s attention back to her. Not that it had ever fully left her. “Then how are we to ever see any place different?” he asks, his voice equally as quiet, though never as gentle. Garmr had reached her by now; his slow prowl to her giving him enough time to gauge how Ainaz might feel. He stretches his neck, extending his nose towards her neck rather than her nose, hoping to brush his lips along the delicate curve beneath her mane. To drink in her scent and feel her warmth despite no longer being cold.


Even if Ainaz does not allow the touch, the scent of her is so strong now that he is in her presence, he can feel the festering ache he’d been carrying for so long begin to fade away. “I hunger for you…” he manages to say, his voice barely loud enough to be heard. Garmr doesn’t understand that it is loneliness he had been feeling, or the desire to be with her. Though it is akin to when he has gone a long time without eating, and he is finally satisfying his belly to rid it of the unending ache.


Garmr truly felt starved for her.