He breathes deep the warm summer air, taking it into his lungs and savoring all the flavours of home. Home… Though he has come to spend his last few years among the civilized folk, the brute will always find the mountains to be his home. The night itself is quiet, the dull buzz and hum of the night creatures a distant sound to his audits. Though he wishes that the visit were for pleasure, this is merely business. His store of hemlock, so carefully kept, had run low. Though it was not an often asked request, he did not like to be caught without supplies. Besides, the types of souls would would dare ask him about the plant would not likely take kind to him spending several days travel to retrieve it for them. They always wanted their “solutions” quickly. He snorted soft through his nares, rolling his eyes a bit.
The large stallion’s companion looked at him quizzically, tilting his lush antlers as bright, nearly feline eyes impressed the question to his mind. “What’s so funny? You know I can’t laugh with you if you don’t share.” The stag shifts his pistons, watching the dappled figure next to him with an understanding.
A smile forms on the pinked maw of equine, his nares crinkling. This time the smile reaches his eyes, which it so rarely does these days. He speaks for the benefit of his bonded companion, the rich tones of his mountain lyrics deep and booming in the otherwise tranquil night. “My apologies, Noor.” He looks to the cluster of branches above them, where a large owl rests, watching the strange pair, the glow of the moonlight casting the predator’s features into shadow.
“I was just thinking about how few people have patience, that’s all.” The stallion looks back to his friend. The stag looks unconvinced, but doesn’t press the issue immediately. They continue their hunt for medicinal items. After all, if they were to make the trip to the mountains they may as well be sure to gather all that they can carry back to their small hovel. The hemlock was really an excuse, though, the bonded knew. The stallion always came back to the mountains at this time of year.
They walked in silence, the glow of Noor’s foliage providing a soft light in the places where the canopy was too thick for the moon to penetrate. Over the years, the stallion’s eyesight had adjusted to wandering the night, though it would never be as good as a creature born to it. Never as good as the owl that followed them curiously from tree to tree. It had no intention to hunt them, but the two figures were rather strange as they made their way across the mountain and it provided entertainment for a while.
“You know,” the stallion spoke slowly, his cannons coming to a stop in a small clearing, crown lifted to the sky. The deep blue was pricked with light like fireflies, and he could almost hear the revelry that would have been taking place had he stayed with his herd. The summer had always been a more joyous time, he thought. Spring carried with it the birth of all things, but Summer? Summer was the fruit of life, the fragrant essence of youth and the culmination of all innocence and belief before the first autumnal breeze shook the foundations and brought all things tumbling down to the reality of life- That it ends. He gave a heavy sigh, his dappled pelt rippling.
“It’s right about the time Salome left with her suitor, is it not?” He brings his attention back to his companion, but the stag is alert and looking into the distant shadows. Every muscle of the elk is coiled, ready to bolt. A chill ripples through Noor’s pelt and he impresses another thought to his friend, so gentle it is nearly a whisper in the stallion’s mind.
“She is here.”
