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Meleager had waited feeling accustomedly anxious, shifting restlessly on his hooves again, but when Castor answered his face broke into a smile again. For a moment he said nothing - couldn't even think what to say - and then he swallowed and said, "Thank you. That... means a lot."

He laughed sheepishly and added, "I might not have gone about that the best way. It's been a while." Longer than he cared to remember, but that didn't matter now. This was a new start. It was exciting, but still... delicate. Now was not the time to reminisce about previous partners, or to go into details about this. The complicated bits could wait, and as well he'd rather not keep just standing around here. The muscled Reya sighed, and smiled at Castor. "Would you like to eat now?" he suggested.

Meleager smiled. "Okay." Turning around, he crossed to the tree beneath which lay the pile of fruit. It looked good; there was more than one meal's worth there, a mixture of elppas, sweet-water fruit, sanguidrops, and others. All were ripe and fresh. The herdleader grinned to himself. Being in charge was great, especially when it meant you could order the best fruit to be selected and taken where you wanted it, and nobody asked why. The civilian mare he'd given the task to would be rewarded well for this result.

The dappled Reya glanced up and smiled at Castor. He really was very attractive, and just seeing him - seeing him now - made the grey stallion happy. It was too long since he'd felt like this. "Go ahead," he said with a gesture at the fruit. "I've eaten, so it's all yours."

Meleager stretched, then neatly folded his legs beneath him and sat down. The awkward bit, the stressful bit, was over now - he could relax.

This was nice. Meleager watched Castor unobtrusively as the younger stallion ate, feeling for once free to admire him. He glanced away in a moment of mild embarassment when Castor looked up, but smiled back. Castor was smiling; that was good. It looked, so far as the herdleader could tell, completely genuine; and that was good too. He had known that Castor wouldn't allow himself to be courted just because Meleager was the herdleader, and that was reassuring. Now that'd he'd said yes... it meant that this was real, and that was most definitely good. He hoped it would last. He liked Castor, a lot.

But there were certain practical considerations to be dealt with. He might be happy, but it was by no means certain that many or most of the herd would have the same opinion. He was their herdleader, after all, and he had a duty to produce an heir. The muscled Reya sighed and looked up at Castor. "I was hoping we could keep this to ourselves, for now," he said, then belatedly remembered that Castor and his father were close, and that he might want to tell him. "Except for family, of course," he added hurriedly.

For himself, there was no one Meleager wished to tell. He had no idea how he would broach the subject with Iris, he had no relatives left, and the one remaining member of the council, whom he might have considered telling if she had been present, was off chasing his good-for-nothing exile of a daughter. The dappled stallion sighed to himself. That was irrelevant, though - right now, this was more important.

"Um..." He hadn't thought about that. But Ignatius did spend a lot of time with Castor, and it might be easier if he knew... Meleager was fairly sure the scaled stallion wasn't the type to spread gossip. He shrugged. "I don't know if it's relevant... but given the amount of time you two spend together, it might be best for him to know. It's up to you, really. I expect he can be trusted not to spread it around."

The dappled Reya stood up slowly, and stretched, spreading his wings and refolding them flat against his back. Watching where he put his feet - it was growing dim under the trees - he stepped around the fruit and close to Castor. Almost close enough to touch - and it was tempting - but first, he had to ask. "We spoke about this before," Meleager reminded the tactician, unable to keep a hint of an anxious frown from his face. "Do you really think the herd will accept this? ...us?"

Meleager smiled, although some of what Castor had said worried him a little. He hadn't quite thought about the heir situation. Castor seemed to be assuming he would choose an heir from the herd. He supposed that was one option, but it wasn't really what he wanted to do. He liked foals, after all, and he'd always assumed he'd be a father many times over. He'd just been unlucky, that was all. And now...

Things were just a little more complicated, that was all. It wasn't a conversation they needed to have now. The herdleader met Castor's eyes again, and smiled properly. "I'm glad you think that; I hope you're right, too. I expect you will be... but it doesn't matter for now."

He held eye contact for a moment, then moved forward slowly - gods knew he didn't want to startle Castor. The grey stallion's eyes closed slowly as he let the tip of his nose brush against the slim crossbreed's neck: strange and new as the physical closeness was, it felt good. And they were hidden, private. No one knew they were here, they couldn't give themselves away - and he couldn't hold himself back any longer.

Meleager stepped back slightly as Castor moved, and followed his gaze to the lake and the rosy sky above it. The water sparkled through the screen of branches, throwing up orange and gold reflections. It was beautiful, and he quite agreed with Castor. Smiling, the grey stallion lowered his eyes from the sky. "It is lovely," he echoed, "Would you like to find a better spot to watch it?"

Sunrise and sunset, natural beauty - the herdleader always enjoyed observing such things. They couldn't be rushed; they proceeded at their own pace, forcing him to relax as he watched. He couldn't relax completely this evening - not with the excitement of something still so new running through him - but he was happy, still. It could hardly have been more blissful; the setting, the company... Meleager smiled. He didn't mind what Castor wanted to do. For once he was simply content.