A S T E R I O N
in sunshine and in shadow*
The sound of Raymond’s laugh is a warm, friendly thing, and Asterion surprises himself by how glad he is to hear it – how proud, almost. It makes him wonder if it is how a son might feel.
The feeling does not last long.
His skin wants to shiver beneath the touch of the warrior’s tail-blade the way it would under a fly, but Asterion does not let it. Instead he only smiles at the red man, though it feels weary and faint, and waits for response.
Me? I wouldn’t bother trying.
At this a black-trimmed ear twitches, and the bay raises a brow. But he says nothing as Raymond pulls ahead, parting the long and waving grasses around him and grows small in the distance, redder even than the sunset.
For a long moment he only stands and watches, feeling the tension in his jaw, the way his muscles ache after their spar. And then he shakes his head, and sighs, and makes his slow way home with his head full of thoughts and his body of bruises.
@Raymond
