i can't undo what i've done
i can't un-sing a song that's been sung
i can't un-sing a song that's been sung
The unicorn feels eyes on him, a sensation he is not at all unfamiliar with. As one of the King's shields as a youth, he has spent much time in front of crowds, being looked upon with all kinds of eyes. Warm, cold, beseeching, cunning, he knows them all. So too he knows that someone is looking at him in that moment that he pauses. The crowd does not part nicely around him like a river to a stone. Bodies bump and brush up against him and his skin crawls strangely in response.
Then he finds the eyes, bright and golden as the sun and fails to strike within him any sort of warmth. The equine they belong to stands beyond the gates, due to the care less of its appointed guards who are distracted. He feels their failure to do their job keenly, as though their failure is his. As though, somehow, their lackluster performance of keeping the gate represents his inability to protect his people, his family and his King.
“You, there,” he says, his voice unkind and sharp and burning cold, “You cannot simply leave equines standing beyond the gates. Get back to your posts or I will find somebody to relieve you of your duties.” The once-noble in Grey rears its head—the young man he had been who wore confidence and command like a cloak—for a moment. The guards, whether embarrassed or spurned by his demanding presence, scramble back to their job and open the gates for the pegasus beyond.
Then, Grey is just Grey again. He shoulders the world once more, bearing it upon his back endlessly as a heavy weight. And he turns away from the scene at the entrance to the court and back to the markets, only white eyes and frosted skin. No pride, no vigor. He stands there for a moment and simply frowns at the busy streets. His discomfort is only evident in his hesitation to push back into the crowd but after a few seconds he begins to do just that.
Grey
@Forseti
