06-28-2017, 07:34 AM
 i'll use you as a makeshift gauge of how much to give and how much to take Contrary to Heda, Ivar has never lacked for friendly company. His forays to new lands had come with new acquaintances, which given enough time (and charm) were easily turned to friends. Loess had been the single exception; the very fact that it is an outlier in most everything is part of what still intrigues Ivar. He is not sure if these hills hide anything more intriguing than that. Even if they don’t, he is young and strong and royal: what else should he be doing with his time but answering questions only he cares about? He might get his answers sooner than expected, he thinks. Though he’s not seen Heda in flight before, he suspects that there are not many winged buckskins with navy hair in the skies of Loess. She lands and come nearer, and Ivar’s suspicions are confirmed. The feathered wings that she tucks into her wings after landing merit a long gaze; Ivar is rather enthralled by wings. He does well enough on land and in the sea, but the sky is something that he will never explore. Looking back to meet her eyes, Ivar finds that she’s shielded them behind a hank of blue mane. Though he’s not sure why, he suspects that it’s something to do with the way he’s grown up. Admiring glances from strangers are no longer a novelty, but the often startled reaction from those he has known since childhood is sometimes still strange. Ivar knows that he looks different – looks better, astonishingly so – but that still gives him no base from which to react. He doesn’t mind, he’s decided, but not minding and knowing how to react are two very different things. He chooses, like always, to pretend that nothing has changed. Returning her smile, Ivar nods his head in agreement of her assessment. “I am,” says the young stallion. Her roving eyes do not go unnoticed, and while they might not be the cause for the way he arches his handsome neck, he will also not mind if she keeps looking. “Though to find you, too.” He adds, “I wanted to ask you about choosing a new home. You’re the only horse I know who has.” While the political climate between Loess and Sylva might be unstable (though due only to lack of communication and not volatile tempers), it hasn’t occurred to Ivar that he might need to be concerned about it. He’s only here to see Loess and to find Heda. His intentions are driven by curiosity and a sense of adventure, but as he traces the smooth line of Heda’s jaw and neck with his brown eyes, he wonders if there might be adventure of a different kind to be found here. While the heady season of autumn has come and gone, the blossoming drive of an adult stallion to gather a herd has not. It’s a recently discovered instinct, one that he’s not yet had time to dismantle with the more logical part of his mind. Ivar is bright enough to know that some mares – mares that are queens in foreign kingdoms – are off limits, but that doesn’t do anything to quell his animal nature. |