It would have been easy to slip back into the thoughts of everything else waiting for him; it would have been easy to think of the responsibilities that he owed the people of Tephra and the things that he still needed to do—kingdoms to visit, members to talk to, borders to patrol. But, for now, he did not worry about them. For now, he was content to live within this moment with her, the enigmatic mare who had stumbled into the kingdom and helped him to uncover a piece of himself he had thought long lost.
At her response, he grins, boyish in charm, the ink of his forelock falling down the handsome slope of his golden head. “I am glad to hear that.” Tephra was not booming, but it was steadily growing. Day by day more and more were coming to it and calling it home, more filled the ranks and took up as residents within the land. It soothed him to know he was not utterly failing them, that they thrived in spite of him.
“Tephra would be lucky indeed were you to call her home.”
It would be impossible to miss the genuine hopefulness in his voice. He had no illusions that she would settle forever; she seemingly had no roots and no desire to put them down. Still, he could only hope that she would stay a while. If she could impart even a small piece of the same joy to the other residents of the land that she had for him, then she would be an invaluable member of their land.
“If there is anything that I can do to make your stay more pleasant, do not hesitate to let me know,” he offered, dipping his head before glancing back to the borders and then to her again. “Unfortunately, duty calls. If you have need of me, simply call and I will be there.” And with a wink and a smile, he is gone.
out of the blue out into the loneliest place that you'll ever know
I carried the world just as far as I could but the damage had taken its toll
![[Image: gqYjsHr.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/KjqNDKxc/gqYjsHr.png)