Keeper-
If he seemed to notice that her look went through him and did not stop at his scales or his eyes, he was polite enough not to mention it. Keeper never could keep her thoughts far from the deer she chased after. Part of her longed to be as them, antlered and lithe, and akin to the forest in a way that she just never could be. That could be part of the reason she left the embrace of the forest and found herself here, realizing that other parts of the earth could indeed hold the same amount of majestic peace and secrets as that endless maze of ancient trees could.
She could feel a bit of it, now that the old mountains hemmed her in and the millpond kept stealing her gaze from him with its changing hues of blue that she knew to be nothing more than a reflection of the sky above them but something about the way it shimmered held her attention captive more than Keeper knew it. No wonder he was king here. Did she know that? No, she must have made the assumption based on his posture. There was a trace of regal composure to it that one like her could never master let alone pretend at. It seemed as much a part of him as his scales and he answers her with a king’s decorum, not all seeming to mind that his kingdom was a perfect distraction.
He mentions the flowers blooming and she can only imagine further how the pulchritude of this place will become unmatched by any other. From each bough on a tree to the tiniest sprout from amidst the grass, she can see how the flowers amass here and scent the air enough to bring in the bees and the butterflies. He has a veritable heaven on earth here, and all she can think of is the deer that will come to the springtime feast and how she might be there, lurking after them if the sight of the lake does not hold her further in thrall at that point in time. No source of water has ever looked so jewel bright and stunning before, and she has no thirst in dire need of quenching to even make her think this way.
But he is warm and sincere in his response; “I think I should like that.” she finds herself answering back with a warm grin before she’s even realized the commitment she’s just unknowingly made. His query though strikes her as odd, no one has ever asked if there was something they could do for her. Is she in need of something and she did not even know it? That’s possible… Keeper missed much and saw all without recognizing it. She could collect a drop of dew on her tongue and taste eons of rain that has fallen but could not remember if she’d seen to her own needs of grazing and drinking, things that no horse in their right mind would be apt to ignore.
He offers to let her continue on with her explorations and that is a kind offer from a king like him. Keeper is loathe to leave him right at that moment, something builds in her mouth that comes tumbling out in a rush - “Would you mind if I stayed?” This is a harebrained idea because she has never once thought to put down roots somewhere, but if she has a hankering to do so, why not here out of everywhere else? For a moment, she almost cannot meet his eyes, having grown shy at asking such a bold thing of the land’s king.
not knowing how deep the woods are and lightless
@[Amet]