Falls

She is quick to spot me, turning warily toward the noise my hooves made on the spring-soaked ground only to relax the moment she recognized me. The moment is small and hardly worth noting, and yet I cannot help but store away the memory to mull over later. There were very few on the islands, after all, that looked at me with such gentleness and I did not know what I might have done to deserve it.

My smile broadened as she murmured my name and then stuttered as she responded to my playful question. Now that I thought about it, I didn't know what I had expected her to answer with. Derision, probably. That seemed to be the status quo for most. And with her being a 'rescued' Lagoon trinket, I had perhaps erroneously assumed that she was glad to be rid of us.

Of me.

Instead I chuckle to hide the way I suddenly felt out of step and drank in the soft, sweet scent of her. I hated that there was an undercurrent of meadow and open sun, traces of the place she lived now, but that hatred was small and mute compared to my enjoyment at her presence. It was not autumn, and yet I felt a queer desire to pull her closer anyway, to wrap my neck over her wheat-gold back.

"If you did," I finally answer, my eyes brightening with amusement and a crumb of relaxation, "miss me, I mean, I fear my ego may never again be shrunk."

She pulled away after a moment and there is an expectant weight in the air, as if there is more to be said, though I have no idea what it is. She is the one that seems on edge, which seems at odds to the way she greeted me just a moment before and so I hesitate, giving her the space to figure out what it is that she wants to tell me. When the question does come it feels far too surface level for whatever thoughts are lurking behind her pretty eyes, but after a moment of hesitation in which I watch her to make sure that this is her question, I answer.

"Thinking." There's no point hiding the truth from her, after all. "The elections are coming up and Garmr is stepping down." I hesitated, wondering if there was any reason to elaborate. I doubt Lavender cared much for the politics of the Lagoon, but I am a selfish creature by nature and the thought of being able to bounce my thoughts off of someone who has little stake in the outcome feels enticing.

"The two that have offered themselves in his place both have faults that make me... unenthusiastic to see them lead, but it's not a job I want for myself." I chuff softly, flicking my tail at my haunches. "Besides, after being sick and hidden for so long, I'm not even sure what pull I even still have among my brethren, despite my position."

In truth, I had not really suffered any dire consequences from my convalescence, save for the loss of a few of my mares. I was not really the type to possessively hold onto them in the past, as that felt firmly like a herd stallion duty and if I knew anything, it was that I was poorly suited to running a herd. But the older I got and the more familiar I grew with my small set of mares, the more I wished that I could protect them from what was going on. If only to thwart the likes of Wechuge and other young Lagoon upstarts who did not bother to check with any elders before going off the handle.

I wait and watch her face to see her reaction to such news, but find myself distracted by the fact that she is still near, still within touching range. And so, without really thinking about it, I do. Much like fingers flipping a pen over and over while in thought, I reach to ply my lips through her pale mane, more content in the moment than I had been since my return. When the quiet has stretched, I finally murmur another question, not certain I want the answer to it. "Are you happy there?"

It shouldn't matter if she is. I have the authority and the right to bring her back if I so choose, and so whether or not she liked the Prairie shouldn't matter. And yet, somehow, it did.

Stallion - Adult - 15.2 - Brown Overo