[Envinyatar]

The moon sat low on the eastern horizon, barely clearing the tips of the trees. Its light shone down in the stable yard, puddling among the shadows of the two tall trees that stood there. It was a warm, breezeless night, made warmer by the amount of ale he had consumed and the heat generated by the crowd in the Common Room.

Derufin walked slowly across the expanse of grass and dirt from the Inn to the stable. Someone, he noted, had gotten the horses in from the corral. He smiled, perhaps Vanwe had taken that upon herself. He could hear them shifting in their stalls as they settled in for the night.

‘Falmar nickered softly as he passed her stall. In the moonlight filtering in from the open doors, he saw her toss her head - beckoning him. ‘Come on, then, girl,’ he said softly to her, opening the half-door to her stall and leading her out. ‘Come out under the stars with me for a while.’

They walked at a comfortable pace in the pool of silvered light between the trees. Like two old friends, their heads often together, they shared an easy silence. Occasionally his hand would come up to scratch her muzzle, and she in turn would drop back a pace and nudge him gently between the shoulder blades.

A short walk brought them to the edge of the Inn yard, and they stood for a moment looking up at the stars, the man leaning against the split rails of the fence. ‘Look! The Seven Butterflies have turned toward the west,’ he said, picking out the bright form in the sky. ‘And there,’ he murmured, pointing north, ‘is her favorite, Wilwarin.’ He reached up to rub the great horse’s cheek. ‘Perhaps she is walking beneath them now as she did so often, here, and even now looks up to see the same jewels set against the darkness.’

‘Falmar neighed, as if catching the image in the man’s mind, and rose up on her back legs, pawing at the air with her hooves. She seemed to challenge the expanse of the night sky and the distance which kept her from her mistress. Her feet back on the ground, she dipped her head to him, and shook it, her mane flying wildly. He stepped back as she stamped her front hoof on the ground, and looked closely up at her.

‘Rochfalmar,’ he said calmly, his voice a soothing murmur against the night’s sounds. She quieted as he spoke to her, standing still once again before him. She was beautiful he thought, here beneath the moon and stars. Her coat shimmered like a cresting wave shot with silvered moonlight while the shadowed greys of the sea rolled beneath it.

She stepped close to him, bringing her head down close to him, her muzzle nudging his chest. He laughed, and reached up to wrap his fingers in the long hair of her mane. And with a leap, he was astride her.

They sailed over the fence in a great arc, the horse’s hooves finding purchase once again on the soft dirt of the road beyond it. Derufin leaned low over the muscled withers and let ‘Falmar have her head. Off the road and through the fields she ran, cleaving the tall summer grasses like a great ship passing through waves.

[ June 05, 2003: Message edited by: Envinyatar ]