12-21-2015, 09:42 PM
His thoughts are heavy and flickering beneath his great spiraling horns; he imagines they keep the other stallions away from his beloved bay mare but he knows better, boyish and grown all at once as to be an internal conflict that rages in him. He had been old enough to mate but harbors the same secret worries any stallion faced with impending fatherhood harbors - will he be enough, know enough, teach and do enough for his foal? The bay shouldn't worry like so, he is his mother's son after all and Scalped’s sons and daughters never ceased to be other than what she expected - strong, true, and wise. His worry was all for nought as he feels her dreamy gaze search out his own dark eyes.
Mandan gives her a tender smile until he senses her distress - it breaks across her face like stormclouds stealing the light and his smile turns into a frown. He wants to know what troubles her but trusts that she'll tell him in her own time, and she does. She is too gentle and nuzzling and for just a moment, he feels like she is preparing to say goodbye and his heart trips over itself in his chest in fright. His lips nearly shape a plea until he realizes that she is mustering all her courage to ask him what she asks him - go with her, to the Falls. “My sister was born there beneath a great big tree,” he mutters, remembering what his mother had divulged to him about his half-sister’s origins, not that he cared one whit - they had pestered each other until she struck off on her own.
“Breathe love,” he reminds her gently as he rubs his cheek against her neck, mindful of his horns - they sometimes get in the way and he would be devastated if he accidentally skewered her. “I will follow you wherever you go,” and that's about the same as him saying let's go then. He even gives her a playful shove with his nose as if to say stop wasting time.