Run... Save Yourself from the Destruction [Open]

[Levi]

When his father had said that none of the others would be welcome in Tephra Levi had not thought much of it. He never imagined he would need to be the enforcer, that one of them would stumble across his home. But one of them had, and now he felt like he must choose his side. 

Confusion mists her dark eyes but instead of feeling pity he feels frustration. She had control, he had seen it, but did she have discretion? Before he can phrase his questions or ask why she chose Tephra she is moving - in the wrong direction. 

“Kolera,” He groans as he turns to trot after her. The mottled stallion follows the flashes of ebony and auburn in the sea of green, keeping her in his sight but not making a show of chasing her down.  As he follows the twisting trail she blazes, the lines of his jaw harden in resolve. She has to go.

Their trail ends at the foot of a dead tree as she breaks to stand before it and tilt her delicate face up to where its lush canopy used to be. Fitting. He thinks as he closes the gap between them. Levi halts when he reaches her side, his inky eye turned towards her, watching the emotions which flicker across her face.

He observes her for a moment, thinking of the way he had found her- baiting Warrick and seeping poison into his home. Finally his voice rises above the sounds of the frogs and birds. “What did you expect? I find you in Tephra and the first thing you have done is destroy something” His words are clipped and but not agitated surely she must understand. “Things… are really tense right now, because of Hyaline.”  

He know that she has no blame in that, he is to logical to ignore that fact. She had been following him, he had been the sole instigator. It was the only reason he hadn't already chased her to the border with flames and flashing teeth. But his father's word still stood, his own reasoning did not come above the King's expressed instructions.

Despite the small part of him which wants her to stay, he has yet to relax. The layers of muscle over his shoulders and haunches remain taut and poised, if she ran again she wouldn't get far. “Do you want to live in Tephra, is that why you are here? Because that’s not my decision to make,” he gestures to the other stallion with a tip of his heavy skull “or his.”

If she wanted to stay the King would have to make a special exception, and she was going to have to prove that it was worth the risk of Levi vouching for her.  

Levi

so scream you, out from behind the bitter ache.