He finds it hard to sleep in the walled court. He sees why most prefer it- the large stones keep him dry when it rains, warm when the temperatures drop, and cool (to a certain extent) when the sun is out. He supposes they should make him feel safe, but they don't. If anything, they have the opposite effect. He's too familiar with the open sky and the horizon, long and flat on all sides. He's too enamored with the edge where they meet, and the way it softens at the beginning and the end of the day.
He cannot see the horizon now, but at least there is a window to let in the afternoon light and a light breeze. How tantalizing that breeze must feel to any beast trapped here. The prisoner speaks, spins a short and sorry tale. Eik listens intently with the tilt of a head. The man sounds earnest enough, although the grey has misread others before and certainly shall again. "I see."
He hears the soft clip of hooves approaching and defensively shifts his weight back. He does not fear repercussion of being where he probably should not be, but he is wary by nature. It is the emissary who joins them, smooth and collected as the stones that tower above them. He cannot pretend to know her-- the few times he's seen her she has been hard to pin down, as though even when looking directly at her, she manages to continually slip into his periphery. He has no physical explanation for it, that is simply the way things seem. And aren't things what they seem, even when they aren't?
(your thoughts echo your thoughts. you wander the halls of your mind and they fold upon themselves, and you exit where you entered. and you wonder if your thoughts are yours, and if they are not then where do they come from? and where do they go? and wh--)
So there is another kept here? A woman? He gives a half shake of his head. "What do you know of this." He asks the woman, calm as the surface of a deep river. The current quickens below.
He is surprised by how bothered he is by the idea of a prisoner-- why should he even care? The man is probably a liar, has probably committed some heinous act. We suppose it comes down to morals. Simply put, it strikes him as wrong to keep a man behind walls. Sentence a man to death or punishment, that is the way they used to do it. Keep things quick, simple. Honorable.
(You're a part of the New World now, and this is how it works, and this is the price you pay)
