He leads new faces back to the Valley all the time. The trick, it turns out, is not getting them to agree to come. It’s getting them to stay. He’s not all that sorry about most of them, though he hopes Ana reappears soon. He likes her blunt nature, likes playing in the shadows with her. He doesn’t like having to eat bunnies to please her quite so much, but thankfully she didn’t force that one on him too often. It’s not quite as unpleasant as it sounds, but still, he does generally prefer grass.

A shadow snake comes slithering out the trees, finding Rhonan with a hiss before disappearing through the grass again in the direction of Demian and a newcomer. Not that Rhonan has any idea where the snake is sending him, or that Demian has brought a recruit to the Valley. All he knows is he’s supposed to follow, and so he does.

It’s not like there’s anything better to do.

He hears voices first, before they come into view. Snippets of the conversation float his way, including his name, along with the words friends and different. He sighs, rolling his eyes a bit dramatically, now entirely in their view. “I can still speak for myself, thank you,” he says, and though he sounds mostly serious, there is a slight note of something lighthearted in his reprimand. He doesn’t really mind Demian being Demian, after all. But of course, that’s not going to stop Rhonan from being Rhonan.

Like usual, Rhonan is wearing his coat of shadows. It’s near impossible to tell that his black coat isn’t a coat at all, but rather the darkness drawn tightly around him. He really doesn’t like being pretty pretty princess colored. Black has always suited him better, and now, he can make himself look like nothing remarkable at all. Though the orange ring in his eyes is still visible against his otherwise muddy brown irises. That orange ring is the only thing that marks him as Covet’s son. And not that that makes him special in any way, but it’s the only thing he’s ever had of his father. And so he keeps it.

“Rhonan,” he offers, nodding slightly to the mare that Demian’s brought back. Though what else he’s doing here, he has no idea. The snake must have just wanted him to know there’s a new recruit. Which to be fair, in the Valley, is a pretty eventful day. There wasn’t much else going on around here, after all.

rhonan.

“It’s shadowy,” he says in response to Iona. It’s a strange response, if you are anyone but Rhonan. To Rhonan, shadows are beautiful. They are why he chose this place (also because this was his father’s home, but the jerk was dead before Rhonan was even born, so he doesn’t talk about all that). He’ll just say it’s the shadows. And mostly, it is.

He notices the way she looks at his coat, and it doesn’t really bother him. Not that staring, because he’s notorious for staring too long or having any idea that it might actually be rude to stare. But he is rather impressed that the girl even noticed. Most just assume he’s black, and move on. But she’s noticed something, he thinks, and so he decided to admit to the truth. Even though he hate the truth. He’s a pretty pretty princess beneath his shadow coat.

He lets the shadows fall away though, and they pool at his feet. His coat is, sadly, gold and white. He looks exactly like his mother. Also dead. And he’s not really that sad about that either. She was fine, but he didn’t have some close relationship with her. His sister was a different story, but not his Mom. He pulls the shadows back up around him, and they hover there like a blanket for a moment before he tucks them tightly around himself, looking very much like a plain black horse again.

“You know, I really do. Now stand still.” He says, turning his attention to Demian, and taking the opportunity to reprimand his friend again. There’s a tiny hint of amusement in his voice, but as usual, mostly Rhonan is pretty deadpan. He has literally NO idea if this will work, but he tries to imagine what Demian sees, and then begins to shape a wall of black into the shapes of the area within eyesight. He carves Iona out of a darker shadow, and then himself, trying to lighten and darken as best he can. This may all be in his head, but maybe he’s managed to channel Demian’s darkness. Because he can understand what Demian sees (Rhonan’s been to the end of the world and all, and it’s damn dark there). And he understands shadows.

“Did that do anything?”

rhonan.