there are many paths to tread
The laughter drifts across the oasis like a ripple across the water, and Toulouse has half a mind to laugh himself.
Instead he only smiles, and perhaps he is showing too much teeth because the moonlight reflects off of his enamel and casts a bright reflection down over the black, black water. His eyes burn brighter, brighter than the stars, so that they too are no longer made of the green depths of the ocean, but rather cold, bright starlight. If the pair on the bank cared to look close enough, they might see the hunger in Toulouse’s eyes and mistake him for a madman, come to wreak havoc in the dead of night. But he is no murderer, only a wolf, disguised in a sheep’s skin.
”Haven’t you heard,” the stranger asks, and Toulouse notes that his voice is as smooth as his laughter. ”that this water is a gift from Tempus himself?”
Of course, this was the horned stallion’s first time ever setting hoof upon the golden deserts of Solterra. He had heard rumors and legends and fables alike, it was true; but most of those had been centered around the Court’s many rulers and its fearsome Davke. ”Forgive me,” he says, hardly missing a beat after the stranger’s declaration. ”I did not know Solterrans were so pious.”
But nothing about the stranger whispered of a pious nature - not that Toulouse could really blame him for that. He wore the same easy brand of arrogance. After all, why would they worship a god when he could wield power just as easily?
The other stallion rises then and wades into the shallows, and Toulouse sees his eagerness and matches it stride for stride. His hoofbeats quicken, feeling the water sloshing against his skin, the waves rippling outwards and away from his body. Only when they’re close, close enough to touch had they a want to, does he stop and wait.
And listen.
This one time only, Toulouse would allow a stranger to make the first move.
His words are almost-careful, but true caution wouldn’t fit his narrative. So Toulouse seeks out his gaze instead, and all the violence and hunger he finds there is reflected in his own moonlight depths.
”And do they say the price of such wealth?”
There was always a price, he knew, he knew, and Toulouse didn’t need to hear Veer’s reply to know also what he would be.
But a wolf never fears.
