This is a raw sketch based on a recent scene in a pen and paper RPG. Unfortunately the short scene alone can’t really capture the emotional significance of the moment within the setting of our RPG which had some vibes of “the Gray Havens” in the lord of the rings.
The hooded griffon on the boat is former queen Gwyn, the first ruler of all the Earldoms that are to constitute the Griffonkingdom in the setting of our RPG. The other Griffon is Guflaf, her most trusted vassal and friend of old days.
In the setting of our RPG queen Gwyn basically ended a period of long conflict and wars between the griffons and ponys, but in doing so she always had to walk a very thin line of never appearing “weak” to her potentially rebellious griffons sticking to the “old ways” (which can be summed up as conquering, plundering and looting viking style) and maintaining the peace with the ponys of Equestria. In this entanglements (which also included the war of king Sombra) queen Gwyn basically paved the way for king Grover to rule as her successor and she (at by now progressed) feigned her own death to allow for Grover to take over and for her self to spend her final years in some peace and tranquility.
During her reign my mapmaker pegasus Leafhelm has been both a helpful servant and sometimes a nuisance to her, receiving honors (the iron ring on his left hoof is a sign of great recognition by the griffons) as well as the threat of the scaffold.
Being allowed to live (there were some old griffon archers on that boat as well) after seeing that the death of the queen was not real (as well as being the keeper of some other secrets that could endanger the future of the Griffonkingdom and the peace at large) is a sign of great trust to Leafhlem and he is saluting as a heartfelt final farewell to a queen whose passing may be seen as the end of an era and the beginning of a new one in the context of our RPG.