[open] don't just sit with folded hands and become blind; any

[Maertin]

The stallion inches back, offering him access to get away from the water, but Maertin hesitates. He’s given a name, too, but Castile already proved himself a threat so he is not completely ready to trust the change of heart. Still, it’s really cold, so when the stallion steps towards him, he stiffens in a fear he can’t quite suppress but doesn’t flee. It’s a reward in and of itself that the black and white stallion is quite warm, and he gives up on his cautiousness and presses against him, shamelessly seeking the warmth. He comes from a quite tactile family, after all, and he thinks the man’s kind actions bely his gruff opening words.


He walks alongside Castile as he heads inland, the contact warmth keeping his teeth from chattering so much. “Well mom is still in Ischia, I t-think,” he says after a moment when he thinks he can mostly speak normally. “But we live with Papa and Scorch in Nerine,” he’d tried out ‘aunt scorch’ at his father’s suggestion after the move, but it had never quite stuck. Scorch was more like a capricious fairy godmother than an aunt, despite that she was his sister’s mother. “I think Papa is here, though, somewhere. He said he was going to help.”


He leaves off the part where he’d been told to stay in Nerine. He doesn’t think Castile needs to know that. Too much of a risk of being sent home before he can try and help someone. “But I can h-help too. I’m a h-healer.”

Maertin

don't just sit with folded hands and become blind

@[Castile] I know this is way out of timeline now *hides* but I think Maertin is working on a serious case of hero worship here and he insisted I write a reply.