i am the vanguard of your destruction

"Aye," he responded with the flick of one ear, head turning slightly away as pale blue eyes peered out over the jagged glass horizon. "We mean to.. take it down." It was a hesitant confession, because—because, well.. it was a wall, but one they did not mean to repair. It was a stupid remnant of a stupid defense, but Tembovu had the looks of a soldier—and he knew what another soldier, uneducated about the past of this particular wall, had thought about tearing down such a monument.

But Mauja had explained and Torleik had seen reason, and they had agreed on another defense, and—and maybe, hopefully, Tembovu would see the truth of the darker side of the wall.. aside from giving you a hair trim upon passing.

It divided hearts, as well as armies.

And Mauja wouldn't stand for that.

If the stallion would inquire, he would answer; but if not, he would let the subject lie. The wall was a depressing thing, like static on the radio—something that cropped up each time he came or left home, but something that didn't add up with what his heart told him ought to be there. He wasn't sure if he should appreciate it or not, that.. wake-up call, that things had changed.

"Mmh," he hummed in quiet agreement, listening to the stranger speak. Either the long walk had made him hoard his words, or it had eased his mind, because while he hadn't exactly been short-spoken in the Threshold, this was practically a flood tumbling out of the burly man's mouth. At the mention of politics, Mauja snorted. Part of him wanted to thrust Tembovu into a political position, such as an emissary of sorts, just to see what it was like from the outside—to see a warrior carrying a white flag and trying to juggle the slippery minds of the other nations.

But then again—why put someone else through his own misfortune? He'd picked this path himself, no need to thrust someone else down it just because they happened to pique his curiosity and whet the appetite of his laid-back sadism.

"Oh?" he finally said, raising a 'brow and peering at the silvered stallion. Now that was flattering, that someone saw his scars and his muscle and instead of thinking oh shit what a loser, actually thought they meant something other than an incredibly unhealthy lifestyle. Or it wasn't a compliment, but a suggestion Mauja act his punching bag. And if so.. well, maybe he was in for a surprise.

But first, questions, questions that needed answers.

And I'm not going to tell you my rank, sorry.

"Don't walk off the edge? It's kinda a one-way ticket to the ocean floor." Humor laced his smirk as he turned his back on the wall and began to move deeper into the autumn forest; winter's chill upon the biting wind, but the first snowfall had not yet come. "Torleik is King here, and for the time being, our laws are sparse—something along the effects of 'use common sense and don't do stupid shit'. The glorious Lady Moon has three brothers—Earth, who is patron of the Hidden Falls, ruled by Kaj and what's-his-face—Archibald. They're the herd that left the Edge. Earth is.. pretty cool. Sun is patron of the Dragon's Throat, and it's full of sand and morons and fire. He's, uhm.. pretty hot-headed. And then there's Spark, or Time, up in the Aurora Basin. He's a right git." And I have a personal grudge. "Beware of the Lord of the Basin, Deimos. He kinda sucks your soul out of your body if you stand too close."

He sighed, pausing to rub his shoulder against a tree. "The gods are dangerous, but they also act .. childishly from time to time, making it easy to become infuriated with them," he said quietly. "The less you interact with them, the better, I'd say. Good things rarely come of it."

[ Sorry for the wait, tagging @[Leeka] as well as @[Tembovu]! ]