One of the reasons Ivarr didn't have many friends outside of the horses was his intensity and his bluntness. He shouted and bellowed and crashed about, unused to the volume he could have as a human as well as the sheer mass of the human body he had and its long limbs and general broadness. The horse side of him was graceful and sure, but the human side was bumbling and awkward - a work in progress, even after a couple hundred years. "Hopefully it won't be for much longer," he told her. "I'd like to feel safe sleeping again."
Chocolate stuck in his teeth, making the sweetness of it stay in his mouth. He ran his tongue over his molars, memories dissolving and bringing him back to the present. "I am a horse!" he reminded her. "This is not me. Well, it is, but it isn't as true."
His brow furrowed in response to her admission of not being a swimmer. Not wanting to swim was unfathomable to him. It was like not wanting to eat. To him, it was a necessity. Something he needed to survive. Without moving water to immerse himself in, he would become weak. "Okay...." Ivarr blinked, then shrugged. "Suit yourself." He watched her getting herself wetter, staying safely in the shallows while he continued to tread water out in the middle. "They did. When I complained enough about the lagoon being too still, they accommodated me. I need it to survive." Ivarr was sure if that had not been the case, they wouldn't have made it for him.
Ducking under the water, he swam downriver, feeling the current rush around him. Even in his exhausted, uncomfortable state, he took strength from it. It invigorated him again. The whiskey and chocolate helped too. Five minutes later, he resurfaced, most of the mud having washed from his skin and hair, leaving the bruising on his torso in the shape of handprints much more visible when he climbed out of the water to retrieve the bottle of scotch whiskey. He sank down in the water next to her, one hand clutching the bottle, the other feeling for his silver necklace. Reassured that it was still there, he guzzled whiskey straight from the bottle before passing it over to her. "You've made a very good first impression, young trick rider."