[open] Not all who wander are lost - any, pteron

[Pteron]

finger trips across my cheek----------------
----------------kiss me until i can't speak

The longer the delay in greeting visitors, the worse a guardian’s skill. Pteron has no interest in doing anything other than excelling in his tasks, even on afternoons like this when the patrols are someone else’s responsibility. He is not due to circle the edges of the forest in a familiar loop until later this evening, yet his olive eyes are always sharp, and the arrival of a dragon most often means an envoy for Loess.

For all Taiga’s growing reputation as a place of open borders, most everyone but the Loessians will wait near the edge of the forest. Perhaps they are over cautious, or perhaps the age old custom of waiting to be greeted at the edge of a land is a hard habit to break. Whatever the reason, the dragon’s shape had been familiar, if not his color, and Pteron is pleasantly surprised to have found Aodhan and not an envoy. The golden color had him worried for a moment; had Reia finally grown in to the shifting that runs so heavily in their family? But it is Aodhan, grinning and telling Pteron that he has had a few years to practice.

The stallion in front of him shimmers gold for a moment, the color a striking counterpoint to his emerald eyes, and settles back to his spotted white. Pteron is rather partial to pale on other horses, but Aodhan had made clear that he was not receptive to Pteron’s flirting. The olive-eyed stallion, unlike one of his southern neighbors, tolerates rejection well.

Aodhan tells him that he has moved to the Pampas, and the mention of his childhood home brightens Pteron’s expression considerably. What the other stallion has to say about Noah’s presence – or rather, absence – elicits a smile. “Noah does like her quiet,” he agrees, and it does not surprise him that she was possessive of her little home. She had allowed his parents and Loess to shelter there during the Plague, but for all her kindness it was clear that she was relieved when they finally left. A bustling kingdom-center was not what she wanted for her home, though that is all that Pteron remembers it as.

The mention of Ischia brings another smile, and there is a jolt of surprise at Aodhan’s mention of children. Not an unpleasant one, of course, and the surprise melts into a knowing grin at the mention of his children’s mother. “Eva, huh?” He says with an appreciative nod. “I’d visit Ischia just for the nereids, if you know what I mean.”

@[Aodhan]

-- pteron --