[private] standing by the river watching my bridge burn down; jenger pony

[Levi]

Levi didn't know how the witch had found him, but once she had, she hadn't stayed long. The midnight-blue unicorn had passed him the weanling and declined his offer of "stay the night?" without breaking stride. She had turned to go and tossed some awful name for the child over her shoulder, and he had frowned. He didn't remember that name now, but he had called the girl Coal.

After that, it seemed that returning to Tephra was the obvious thing to do. His boyhood home had maintained a constant pull on him over the years, one that led him towards the distant smell of smoke whenever he didn't know where to turn.  He was getting tired of keeping on eye on the filly all the time, and the support system a well-organized kingdom offered would allow him some relief. Hopefully, there would be a few younglings to entertain her... hopefully, some mare would develop a fondness for the wild little thing.

His chest constricts when he thinks of the women he had left in Tephra, it had almost been enough to keep him away. But the pull of the land itself was more powerful, and no matter what he told himself, discomfort wasn't the only thing he felt when his mind traced the lines of their beautiful faces.

Days pass, but finally the soft scent of pine is lost in the offensive, balmy cocktail of spring in the tropics. 

Under the cover of dusk, the mismatched pair follow the coast until the volcano smokes at their back as they face west. A little more at ease, Levi allows them to halt for the night, just as a chill was binning to creep across the sand. His broad head turns to peer into the jungle behind them, thinly veiled suspicion easy to read as the flames of his mane dance across his face, just of the sound of splashing and laughter reaches him.

"Coal," he calls in a low grumble as her little dark head bobs out of sight. She was already running out of the ocean and up the shore, "come back, now."

She listens, though not as quickly as he would like, and returns to him dripping ocean water with mouth-full of twigs.

"I want to go look around, now," she says, dropping her find.
"Tomorrow." He returns, without hesitation.
"Please?"
"No."
"Why?"

Silence.

"Well, then you have to tell me a story... one about the Volcano."

There is no response, but a fire sparks where she had dropped her pile of twigs. This was their ritual: he keeps the fire burning until she falls asleep, and she stays within the glow of its light.

"There was a tall, black mare," he begins, his voice is low and soft, so she almost had to hold her breath to hear him.

The story rambles on - the language is not beautiful and the plot is only mediocre. But Coal listens, not recognize either of these things, and it is not long before her head dips down into the sand, and Levi is left silently staring into the flames.

Levi

so scream you, out from behind the bitter ache.