The southern plains where Imani had grown up were as likely to have humid summers as wet ones, and most often were a mix of both.  He couldn't say he terribly enjoyed the oppressive humidity of the Edge at the moment but at least he was used to it.  Still, he'd become practically nocturnal.  The nights were simply better.  Today he'd found a cool, muddy hollow beneath a tree and it was there he had chosen to try and sleep through the worst of the day's heat.  That is, until the Elephant's trumpet had woken him from his uncomfortably drowse.  

For a moment, some contrary part of him almost ignored it and put his head back down to sleep.  Then with a grunt the odd-eyed stallion thrust his stocky legs beneath him and rose from his wallow.  Mud had dried along his sides but still clung wetly to his legs, belly, and chest.  He didn't bother to hurry.  Eventually he broke out of the trees and blinked in the un-dimmed sunlight, pausing for a moment.

He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about the lilac structure that had risen on the side of the lake.  It just seemed out of place in the natural beauty of the Edge.  He could see shadowed shapes gathering beneath and with a huff he made his slow way to them, knowing he would be grateful for the shade once he reached it.  He didn't try to knock the mud off his shaggy coat- it was still sort of cool, dammit, and he'd take what he could get.  

So it was an unself-conscious and slightly irritated Imani who walked under the awning, accompanied by the quiet rattle of the bone beads that hung over his shoulder.  His thick mane was matted with sweat, the dust-colored hair along his top line darkened until it was somewhat hard to tell where his stripes began.  For the first time, he laid eyes on she who was Queen to Tembovu's king. He did not see fire and ice standing side by side.  He saw a man and a monster.

Korofi

The small stallion's ears laid tight back against his skull and his lups pulled back from his lips in an ugly grimace.  His odd eyes rolled, flashing white all around as he looked about the pavillion and saw another monster standing there in the shade, and then another lurking back in the shadows, waiting.  His body suddenly hummed with adrenaline, caught between fight and flight and yet paralyzed by the fact that no one else seemed to realize the danger.

Of course not.  

The Elephant General bedded Korofi

He could hear distantly the screams of the dying and his nostrils were filled with the scent of dust and sweat and blood.  His eyes flicked to the spotted stallion, then the young filly, almost a plea.  Then his gaze landed briefly, wildly on Tembovu full of fear and anguish and accusations.

With a sharp intake of breath that hissed between his teeth and a rattle of bones he wheeled and plunged from the tent, finally breaking from terror-stricken paralysis.

Imani