would you spend your whole life with me,
She doesn’t hear his approach; there is no tell-tale sound of hooves on rock and pebbly waterfront. The mare is startled, but force of will keeps her still, though a shiver runs across her body. Nairne doesn’t move her feet, not wanting the bright fish to scatter just yet, but she lifts her head at his words and looks up into the stranger’s face.
The words draw her attention to his rather un-horselike feet, and the mystery of his quiet approach is solved. Paws are quieter than hooves, after all, even those with claws in them. But her attention doesn’t dwell there – she lifts her gaze back to the stranger’s face, memorizing it. He seems familiar enough with the waterfall and its surroundings, though she’s never seen him before. “There are few enough true predators in the Falls, I would think they would grow braver.” Of course they might have migrated from father away, come in from the outside in the river, but Nairne likes to think that their population of fish lives happily here, breeding and living and dying all within the microenvironment of the Falls.
“I’m Nairne,” she offers in response, finally stepping away from her fish friends and towards him, though she casts a regretful glance towards the fish as they flee back to deeper waters. “I was born here,” is the answer to the question, with a peaceful smile. “It’s hard to be unfamiliar with childhood haunts. But I have been away, and only recently returned.” It’s strange, to have been gone long enough that nobody really remembers her family dynasty. They might know, perhaps, the names of formers Kings and Queens but it isn’t the same as being welcomed back into the open arms of friends and family. Nairne has started to understand why Natilyn didn’t stay, why she dropped her eldest child off in the Falls and then the rest of the family vanished again.
“And you? Have you lived here long?”
would you be there to always hold me down?
Nairne
mikhael x natilyn