It was near sunset, where the sun still hung wearily in the sky yet pricks of indigo were beginning to emerge. Dusk was nearly at its end. Beneath the golden light he stood, stoic and ever enduring, the hardened lines on his face growing dark as the sun’s rays play shadows across his auburn and navy body. He was standing near the golden shoreline, frothing water rising to meet his hooves then falling back, then coming to meet him again. The constant rhythm soothes him. It was this time of night where he truly came alive; where the sun’s rays begin to kiss the horizon and stars begin to brighten with clarity as the light of day retreats, leaving them to shine boldly. He welcomes the sun’s dying light happily, thankful for the coolness that night would soon bring. Though Beqanna lies under boughs of snow and ice, Tephra is left untouched: salty, sultry air presses against his skin, warm currents of air from the ocean bringing in the everlasting heat.
The night begins to whisper to him, a soft, clear voice that only he recognized; a voice so gentle, but yet seems to come from everywhere, even in the rustling of the tropical trees around him. The salty breeze brushes against him, twisting and curling the dark tendrils of his mane and tail carelessly on its fingers. In the distance, the volcano looms like a slumbering giant, groaning with life as smoke billows from the top, the bold gray melting into the red, oranges, and pinks of the clouds. He watches the volcano thoughtfully, his mind drifting.
They had slept under the stars. It was lovely, calm, and bright. He had told her the constellations in which they slept under, reciting stories of the stars and their adventures they represent. Sleep was a rare delicacy to him and when it was found, it wasn’t truly sleep. He cannot quite remember (for it had been awhile), but he thinks he slept peacefully that night. His thoughts run to her, the golden buckskin overo, who made him forget his chains momentarily and freed him in their spritely dance beneath the moon and stars. His brilliant blue eyes flick upwards towards the sky, watching as stars begin to peer from behind the sunset colored clouds. The familiar stab of sadness cuts through him as he searches for the beginnings of the constellations he knew so well.
He was not one to worry about others, for he would not want anyone to worry about him. Warrick cannot help the feeling of disappointment that presses fiercely against his ribcage. Perhaps she had left Tephra earlier than she had originally planned, found the Lake, and decided to stay there. The stallion huffs quietly, blue nostrils flaring. If that was the case, he did not mind. However, the stallion would find it disheartening if she had not thought to say goodbye to him.
Just as these thoughts cross his mind, painting sadness across the lines of his face and darkening his eyes solemnly, the sounds around the shoreline change slightly. The rhythm of the waves stay the same, as well as the sporadic call of the gulls that flew lazily above him on the ocean’s strong breeze. A navy-tipped ear flicks towards the sound of hoof beats on wet, dense sand. His gaze turns and his brilliant blue eyes light up happily, a gentle nicker leaving his cobalt lips.
“Tang!” he exclaims joyfully, tossing his head as her name left his lips.
like the sun,
swallowed up by the earth
warrick
@[Tangerine]
<3