and I discovered that my castles stand
upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand
Texas’ interest in visiting other kingdoms is only slightly greater than his interest in walking into a swarm of mosquitoes; needless to say he has no intention of seeking answers to the questions he ponders. It would be easy enough to go and ask after the other kingdoms, but the bay stallion’s apathy may as well be a thing of legends. He’d rather wait and see what comes poking at the Waterfall and face it when it comes.
The first it is a mare. She walks alone and smells of the Valley, though the reek of her naivety (purposeful?) is even easier to scent. She doesn’t seem bothered by the fact that she’s wandering deep in the heart of a kingdom where she might not be entirely welcome. Since the shifting of the magic in the kingdoms Texas is as clueless as a foal about politics, and there is no monarch to instruct him. Perhaps that means he’s in charge.
“I’m Texas,” replies the bay stallion as he turns away from the water to face the stranger, “and you’re trespassing.”
He does find her quip funny (if only because the state of the Falls is positively depressing and his humor is equally depressing), but the chances of him admitting it are far less than the chance he’s about to willingly drown himself in the pool of water behind him.
“I’m not alone,” He replies, once again refusing to give a concrete answer that would give her the information she seems to want. Part of it is his innate orneriness, and part of it is that she is blinking at him out of Prague’s doe eyes. It might be a trick the old magician is playing or simply the girl’s unfortunate luck to have inherited her granddam’s eyes, but Texas refuses to give the old grey lioness the upper hand.
He’s says that he’s not alone and he might have meant that because Everdeen is here he has company, or perhaps that the rest of the kingdom is sleeping. He’s not inclined to tell her which, but he’s bored enough to tolerate her for a while longer despite the fact that her brown eyes bring up too many memories. “Did you come here just to ask stupid questions, or is there something that you need?” His expression has been stoic until now, but now his brow raises in faint disdain. He feels nothing of the sort, but he does hope that she’ll react negatively, and do something to add excitement to his day.
texas
