05-20-2018, 09:16 PM
A flicker of motion catches his eye, and Ivar tilts his dark head to the side to better see the cause. A school of silver fish swim beneath them, darting between their mottled legs and hurried along by the surf. They are lit up by the glow of the phytoplankton, which are brightest at the shore and where they brush agains the legs of the two horses. Ivar has always found it fascinating, and tonight is no exception.
He smooths his muzzle across Kylin's crest as a warm breeze wraps around them, and while some part of him knows that Isobell is still out to sea, he finds that he is not as concerned as he was even an hour earlier. She will either return or she will not. For now, he is occupied, and Ivar has only ever really cared about the present.
It is why, as she repeats that she missed him, that he lets out a satisfied hum. He has always enjoyed their reunions, and this is no exception. He'd asked her once to stay with him in Loess, but she could not part from the sea. Now that he has returned to it, he sees no valid objection she might have. Ivar has been gone, yes, but more importantly he has come back.
Tucked up beside him and in easy reach, Ivar smooths the two-toned hair down her neck, laying it flat only to muss it again with a smile. "No," he tells her, "This time I will stay." She will stay too, of course, as will Isobell when she returns. Perhaps not on the main island - he has no desire to see Brennen again except as bones on the ocean floor - but on one of these smaller ones, closer than the rocky atoll that he and Isobell had claimed.
There is the small matter of the child she carries, of course, but Ivar imagines that the Brotherhood might take it in. He does not want it, and while the kelpie understand that mares readily form attachments to their offspring, he is certain that he can give her another child - a better child - to keep her happy. He does want her to be happy, after all, and it is no small feat that he restrains himself from commanding it of her. Ivar hasn't forgotten their adventure on the turtle beach, but he is certain that she will agree even without manipulation.
After all, she curls against him like the lovers they have never been, and when she tells him that too much has changed, he only smiles and presses a kiss to her neck and assures her that "Not too much," has changed. "You're still mine, after all" he reminds her. "The rest doesn't matter."
He smooths his muzzle across Kylin's crest as a warm breeze wraps around them, and while some part of him knows that Isobell is still out to sea, he finds that he is not as concerned as he was even an hour earlier. She will either return or she will not. For now, he is occupied, and Ivar has only ever really cared about the present.
It is why, as she repeats that she missed him, that he lets out a satisfied hum. He has always enjoyed their reunions, and this is no exception. He'd asked her once to stay with him in Loess, but she could not part from the sea. Now that he has returned to it, he sees no valid objection she might have. Ivar has been gone, yes, but more importantly he has come back.
Tucked up beside him and in easy reach, Ivar smooths the two-toned hair down her neck, laying it flat only to muss it again with a smile. "No," he tells her, "This time I will stay." She will stay too, of course, as will Isobell when she returns. Perhaps not on the main island - he has no desire to see Brennen again except as bones on the ocean floor - but on one of these smaller ones, closer than the rocky atoll that he and Isobell had claimed.
There is the small matter of the child she carries, of course, but Ivar imagines that the Brotherhood might take it in. He does not want it, and while the kelpie understand that mares readily form attachments to their offspring, he is certain that he can give her another child - a better child - to keep her happy. He does want her to be happy, after all, and it is no small feat that he restrains himself from commanding it of her. Ivar hasn't forgotten their adventure on the turtle beach, but he is certain that she will agree even without manipulation.
After all, she curls against him like the lovers they have never been, and when she tells him that too much has changed, he only smiles and presses a kiss to her neck and assures her that "Not too much," has changed. "You're still mine, after all" he reminds her. "The rest doesn't matter."