Alleo was unaware of the implications of what he had thought was a completely innocent question. As he continued to walk more questions came to his mind and they piled one on top of the other, all of them begging to be asked. Would she get to keep her eyesight or would the Earth God take it back? Would she miss it if he took it back? Would she want to keep it and stay mute or would she rather be blind and have a voice? He was wholly unaware of the way she had been treated because of her disability, but he would be lying if he said that he hadn't seen it before. In his own home there were the blind and mute horses that had been persecuted. He, himself, had been forced by his father to beat on them and he'd hated every second of it and had tried to fight against it, but his father had been bigger and stronger and after so many beatings one tended to give in to the whims of the stronger.

Never again. He would not allow himself to be controlled to hurt someone who couldn't defend themselves properly. He would protect them from the ones who only wanted to hurt.

The cool breeze whipped through his mane as he cantered the length of the border he had yet to patrol and by the time he'd reached its end a thin sheen of sweat was coating his sides. As they reached the edge of their herd land his canter slowed to a bouncing trot then a walk before he stopped and glanced toward Rasta, his tail flicking leisurely back and forth. "We're done for today." Alleo said as he turned and began to walk away from the border. There would be another patrol along in the next couple of hours then theirs would start again the next day. Until then he had every intention of enjoying the rest of the afternoon before he had to get back to work again.

There was still parts of the Foothills that he had yet to show her and he debated for a moment with himself before deciding that he wanted to take her to the waterfall. He tilted his head in the direction he wanted to go, turned and began to walk. When he was sure that Rasta was following her moved into a canter once more. At times he would slow down and let Rasta get next to him and he'd reach over to playfully nip at her shoulder or tug at her mane before he'd speed up again.

After only a couple of minutes he could hear the sound of the waterfall ahead and began to slow down, thinking it better that he slow down farther away then too close because... well... Rasta would probably run right into the waterfall. His gaze locked on the first patch of clover and he walked over to it, lowered himself to the ground, and began to roll. His legs kicked at the air and he grunted quietly then rolled over onto his side and was still. His nostrils flared as he sucked in a deep breath and sighed, his eyes sliding shut.

"."