Cathun groaned inwardly as the kids stony demeanor fell away in place of a bright, radiant, oh so grateful smile. With Ranjiri's smug looking face hovering before his inner vision the colt sighed and nodded, reluctant but unable to find any excuses good enough to take him out of this mess. He would just have to go back the the Throat, there was nothing for it now.

"Better just get it over with" he muttered under his breath, hopefully quiet enough that Erebos wouldn't hear the reluctance (as if it hadn't been plain enough already). "Are you ready to go now, or do you have business to take care of first? Doesn't matter to me either way" he said, struggling to keep a misplaced feeling of growing resentment from showing on his face. The happier his new acquaintance became the less Cathun liked him, it seemed, even if it was just a result of his own inherent issues. The joyful smile seemed somehow misplaced on the dark youths face too, for that matter. Like a blinding ray of sunlight in the middle of the night, or a dancing dolphin in a tutu flopping on a lonely mountain top.  

He shuffled his feet through the snow where he stood, quietly hoping that the other would have a ton of things to take care of before they had to leave for the south. Family to alert, friends to drag along - no wait, the other friend was missing too - leaders to notify... Then of course there were a lot of things that could go wrong on the journey to the desert island too. They could get separated, get in an accident, or Cathun could simply disappear in the night and the other would be left none the wiser...

The last was such a joyful prospect that the long-legged grullo turned the thought over in his mind for several pleasurable moments before the first traces of guilt caught up with his sense of honor. Should he really leave the younger Erebos on his own out there in the wild? Was it worth the self-loathing just to avoid a place he knew he would have to return to sooner or later anyway? Not to mention that both his honor and dignity would receive serious blows in the process... going back on his word, abandoning a person in need, betraying the trust of a new potential friend...

He sighed miserably. He never knew it was such hard work, being noble.


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@Erebos  So sorry for the wait!

Cathun

The firebrand