dark side of the morning - Enfys

[Ivar]

i'll use you as a makeshift gauge
of how much to give and how much to take

It is easier to tell where the borders are on dry land.
 
Ivar is drifting a few dozen meters off the coast, and he can see the redwood trees through the mist that tell him that this beach must be part of Taiga. Still, is stepping on the beach considered crossing the border? Should he wait out here in the sea until someone notices him? This is something that he probably should have thought of before deciding to try and swim home from Tephra.
 
His legs are not yet tired, but the sun is starting to sink below the coniferous trees, and Ivar needs to make it home by nightfall. Through the Taiga is the fastest way, but his ingrained lessons to not trespass and his desire to follow his parents’ instructions keep him from simply swimming to shore.
 
He remains afloat, a pale head on a dark neck, as the light slowly fades from the western horizon.
 
It will be easier to go unnoticed during the night, he reasons. Mother will assume he is staying longer with Father, and Father will assume he has already left to sleep besdie Mother. They will not check with the other, and Ivar has at least a few more hours before his absence will be noticed.
 
Not until the sky is black overhead does he venture into the shallows. The sand feels odd against his hooves, and the ground is almost uncomfortably solid. This is the longest that he has ever been in the water, and he finds that he is almost unwillingly to heave himself back into dry land. He must, he tells himself, though he pauses fetlock deep in the waves for a last glance out at the ocean.
 
(something moving in the shadows. be still.)
 
The tobiano colt turns, and is able to make out a paler shape among the redwood trees.
 
“Hello?” He calls out curiously, “Is someone there?”

IVAR