It was a sight to behold, certainly. The way the lands changed with just a few short days of travel, the way they roamed and undulated and fell away - Grimalkin might have appreciated it, had he not been interested in other things. The stallion rarely ever loved a land - he was too busy loving knowledge instead. That wasn't to say he didn't know how to like various things - he had his preferences, like all living creatures. Being heavily clad in antlers and hair, the stallion enjoyed the northern reaches of his home, and he was growing more loyal towards the herd he called his own. Would he lay his life down on the line for them? Certainly, as long as he wasn't the first. Grimalkin was no leader, nor was he a follower of fools - he would pick and choose who he would give his respects to and who he would keep them from. So far, the Basin had proven worthy of his attentions.

But the Basin could provide only so much before the stallion's mind yearned for more. It would always be his home, his resting place (until he found something better, anyway), but his limbs craved a wander, and so he obeyed them.

Chilly winds tried to freeze his bones, but his body was lined with thick layers of sinew and muscle, toned and rippling with power - he felt no cold as he bore the wind head-on. He had seen the Arch before, it was knowledge he already held - or was it?

Eyes alighted to the strange patterns that danced across the archway, and the stallion walked with his eyes directed upward for nearly too long - he stopped as he rounded the entrance to the abyss and stared at the beauty within. When he had been here before, there had been no treasure within the dark alleyway, no trove to uncover, no mystery to unravel. But here, now, there was something new, something beautiful and delicious. A smile appeared upon his lips as if it had always been there, his heavy, antlered crown nodded to the miss in greeting as his low wuffle emanated from the broad depths of his chest. "And to think I thought the place to be dismal and bland on my last visit here," the stallion said by way of breaking the silence. "Seems I've stumbled upon a treasure."

@[Arah]

colourize-stock & larfsalot @deviantart

The seraphic song of the antlered angel before him was heard with sooty ears, who rose from the depths of his thick, blonde mane to capture every syllable, every nuance of the chorus she wrote. She was a picture, an artwork, a masterpiece to be framed and admired from afar - somehow Grimalkin knew enough not to presume to touch the maiden without her clear invite. As he allowed the emeraldine depths of his eyes to drink her more completely, he bathed in the beauty presented to him with quiet content. She was white, though her shade appeared a strange, cosmic indigo beneath the eerie blue cast of the Arch above them, combined with the sapphires that alighted in the pale strands of mane. Her eyes were another matter though, full of flames and fight, passion and fire, golden depths reminiscent of his own hide before his foal-fuzz had shed and revealed the smoky palomino beneath.

Grimalkin smiled at her, with her, accepting her words with nothing more than a tilt of his crown - aye, he could be charming, when it suited him. He could be deadly too, though this situation didn't call for such things -yet. At her question he went to rumble out a low reply, but instead watched in silence a little longer as her attention was pulled to the creature that resided upon her back. Truly, Grimalkin did see it before, but he was growing so used to seeing these strange, predatory animals attached to their equine counterparts that he had begun overlooking them. He watched as the mare affectionately admonished the feline-avian hybrid, suddenly craving to know what the bond between them felt - he had seen it multiple times now, the way they communicated without words, the way they loved dearly and loyally, without fault - he longed to know it, to experience it… to control it. Alas, such an opportunity was yet to present itself to him, and so he would simply continue on with his observations - all the while learning and listening as he went.

"Nothing else could give me greater pleasure this day," a lie, so easily spoken through charred lips - plenty things would give this beast pleasure this day, though there was no need to go into specifics about what they were. Grimalkin was a patient steed, he knew great things took time, and he had all the desire for greatness to motivate him to be patient about the time it took to achieve. With a bow of his crown, he made to walk past the maiden and enter the caves, which were lit by the Sun above, and cast a dark blueish tint to everything before them. He passed close to the girl, the rounded, plush edge of his shoulder might have brushed her own if she did not lean out of its way, his warm breath pouring from his nostrils and cascading along the length of her bodice should she linger too long in her stationary state. Though the stallion allowed his gaze to roam their surrounds, he remained ever aware of her, this nameless fae, this creature from another world (perhaps one not so different to his?), this antlered angel he would accompany this day.

"Grimalkin is my name." he murmured softly into the abyss, flicking an ear and an eye to view her once more. "Do you have something I might call you by?" he asked softly, allowing the natural resonance of the Archway to carry his words, to add volume and levels his own simple tones could never achieve alone.


@[Arah]

colourize-stock & larfsalot @deviantart