He's long given up at trying to understand what it is about Altissima that makes him so different. Or perhaps, that was the reason in itself. She was unlike anyone else he has ever known, as wild and as changing as the very sea before them and as the gray stallion feels another smile tugging at the corners of his dark lips, it makes sense to him that he would become someone else in the presence of a woman who was as unpredictable (and wonderful) as the winds to Tarian.
"It's not," Tarian murmurs, lowering his head so that the smaller mare could brush her slender muzzle against his. He relishes the touch and even if the day proved to be a little chilly, Altissima tempers the pegasus against the coming autumn air. He tries to sound remorseful that water would be cold where the springs were always warm but the gray stallion finds himself falling into their usual banter.
His blue eyes meet her violent ones and where Tarian had been considering saying something with dark humor - something about making her shiver without needing the cool water - he refrains. The silver-winged creature knows that Wildling is joking and yet her teasing reminds him that with the frost, so comes a long winter without her. He's enjoyed these golden days of summer with her - losing track of time entirely - and Tarian wonders if that was a little of Altissima's freedom brushing against him.
Tarian thinks of the protocol and the patrols waiting for him at the end of their time together and some part of him finds that he isn't looking forward to slipping back into the rigid uniform of a soldier. It's always suited him - a role that he has held for almost the entirety of his life - and yet now, it doesn't fit him as easily as it once did.
Not now, he thinks. Don't think about this now. Not when they still had hours of daylight together, a few more days at the very least.
The Loessian lifts the hind leg, as his smile returns with his focus. "I think it might be able to tolerate you a little longer." The smile turns into a grin as Tarian lifts his gray head, looking over Altissima briefly towards the gray sea and then moves towards the shade where they would find privacy until nightfall.
When the moon finally returns, Tarian leads her to the cave opening again. He moves slowly and keeps quiet as they move across the uneven terrain towards it, until the winged horse stops and lowers his head to a group of hazy outlines a few paces ahead. The rising moon gives enough light to make out the small plants whose blooms, much like Altissima and Tarian, glow. They are various shades of blue and the gray turns his broad head to study Wildling, wanting to see her reaction to the flowers.
They had always reminded him of her.
"I found them on patrol a few moons ago," he tells her quietly. Around the time that she had surprised him by venturing into Loess the first time, but before they had become what they were now. "It should probably be left up to Lady Oceane or Cheri to name the flora and fauna," the gray continues even quieter than before. "But I've been calling them Altissimas."
TARIAN
@Altissima <3