A sigh passed through the lips of the young boy who stared out across the fiery Throat. His heartache had once been raw, after a few days it had become a dull nagging pain until finally the image of his mother passed into memory and once again Sacre could live his life as once he had, carrying his sadness as a chip on his heart. Honour, resolve, these were emotions that he latched onto now, hoping that his mother would be watching him and he would do his best to make her proud. With the matter settled, Sacre and Inari returned to their normal vivacious ways. There were moments when the stained colt worried about Roux and how he was coping. Perhaps he didn’t know. Though no matter how hard he looked, Sacre had yet to come across his elusive twin who was most likely still living in the mountains, though the prospect of visiting there made the colt slightly nervous. Maybe he was just a coward, but every time he entertained the idea of visiting the Basin he suddenly found himself to be a bag of nerves and apprehension. One day, one day.

Dragging his sorry self out from under the rock he had been moping under, Sacre travelled on duty a short distance to the Heart Caves, his designated area for patrol. With so much talk of murders, the colt was warier than his usual half alert self whilst part of him was madly curious to see if he could find any more clues. As he always, Sacre constantly worried about his brother, but death and fear made it worse. What if the next body they found was that of his twin? His mother had already spilt her blood, who was to say that it wouldn’t be Roux next. It was a thought that constantly entered his head, spurring him to keep looking for the perpetrator and yet, he had no idea what on earth he’d do if he found whoever was behind it. Was he even capable of killing? The idea was revolting and somehow fascinating, how did you simply take a life? Was it simple? Did he have a right to?

Bothered by unruly thoughts, Sacre arrived at the Heart Caves entrance and waited outside for his fellow family to join him on duty.

(Patrol thread! :D @[Ryuu] & @[Megaera])

The sound of the lad’s approach made Sacre jump. It was one of those odd moments of experiencing both relief and embarrassment. He knew his dark thoughts couldn’t be heard, but at the same time he felt slightly unnerved by thinking of them during the presence of another. With a snort he composed himself and offered the approaching colt a warm, bright smile. He recognized both; Ilaria more so, wasn’t she the panda companion of the Golden Prince? Sacre hadn’t had much chance to get to know Cera much, to Sacre the master craftsman was like one of those respected folk in the distance that he one day wished to be like. Known for good things more than bad. At least, that was the perception the blood stained child had projected onto the gilded lad and his blazon companion. The question was, why was the companion of the Forger following the young lad that now approached.

He was only perhaps a year younger, they shared the same similar black and red traits, but this one had added in yellow. There had been that one-day, quite a while ago now, that Sacre had run into the colt. On of his first days in the Throat he had found Ranjiri along with Cera and this young half-pint. Maybe there was something more between those three and Sacre was just missing a piece in the jigsaw. Either way, he greeted the colt with urbane gestures and hoped his open armed friendliness would ease the boy’s nervousness that spilt through his voice.

Ryuu. Ryuuuuuu. Ryoooo he amused himself with his playful thoughts; there was no chance of him forgetting such a catchy name. “The one and only. The best. The-“ he stopped short of finishing his theatrics as Inari dug a claw into his leg with a disgruntled look of exasperation. ”Will you ever grow up?” He projected the distressed thought to his blue eyed friend. Sacre ignored the quip with a short laugh, his attention firmly on the colt in front of him “aye I’m Sacre and my friend is Inari, nice to meet you Ryuu” he offered the boy, brightly.

Thud. He drew his attention away from Ryuu for a moment to search for the source of the new noise. Maegera! His companion in hunting down the murderer. Sacre let the joy of seeing her colour his features “Good to see you, Meg” he responded kindly when she closed in on them, Inari barked his own vulpine version of ‘hello’.

The conversation turned to the duty at hand and Sacre, who had been on patrol duty only twice before, set off towards the entrance with purpose. “Let’s go!” he concurred with Meg, hoping they’d accompany him down into the caves. His cloven hooves hit the new terrain with a muffled, low sounding clop and Inari followed eagerly by his side, white tipped fluffy tail held perfectly vertical as his little black paws marched away. Soon they entered Sanctuary and the duo came to a halt in the middle. “I haven’t been here in some time… It’s so beautiful” he complimented the surroundings with awe in his voice as he observed the lava behind the crystal. “Do either of you come here often? I remember when we lived here for some time and all I wanted to do was get out, but we couldn’t” his laugh was distant, like it was lost in a memory.