He smiled, for just a moment, but she caught it and she wanted to laugh and revel with him. But as soon as she touched him, his smile withers away and his cold stare begins boring into her. Kahlua did not fret, though, she was too busy dancing about. Seems like it, he finally said with a sigh and Kahlua only shook her head. This stallion was strange, by all measures, but she did not dwell on it. Perhaps she was strange, perhaps they all were strange. She did not get so philosophical about it, but something similar to the thought rolled through her brain.

What she did find, was that she did not mind his strangeness. Having gotten past the way he had caressed her amulet, Kahlua was actually rather comfortable with the stallion. He was quiet, true, and he did ask a lot of questions but... who was she to say how many questions were appropriate and how many were not. After all, there were many times she could think of where she had gotten curious and spoken too much or pried too deeply. Besides, she did not suspect any ulterior motive of the stallion's questions. She was not much of a planner, and therefore did not really think about what planning others did.

As he began to move again, his words getting her to follow, she alternately looked up to the sun and down to the ground to catch her path. The land in the light was beautiful, more than she could handle even. And the shrines... The way the sun poured over them with a gentle touch was a comely sight that the mare had no words for. As the distance between herself and the shrines closed, she could not help but want to close it faster. Before she could burst into a run, though, the stallion spoke again. How many, he queried, and she was done with talk of warriors.

In an instant, her muscles gathered and she sprung into a canter. “I didn't count! She cried out with a laugh, following it quickly with one more statement, before she was too far away for the stallion to hear. “If you're so interested in our warriors, why don't you join them? COME ON!” Her call for him to follow was not a demand, so much as an expression of her excitement. And so she ran down the gravel path until she was upon the ledge where the shrines sat and she slowed to a walk and then a halt.

For a moment, she just stared. She was both frightened and awed. The ledge at the volcano's edge was a place she did not particularly want to be, but the tributes to the gods (especially her moon goddess) were a sight she could not ignore. She was compelled to bow her head to the shrines, stretching her limb out in front of her. If they were watching or not, the mare could not think of another or a better way to respect them. Finally, she murmured, wondering if the stallion was close enough to hear her. “Are we supposed to say something?” Her voice was not dancing now. It was a whisper of respect and reverence. It did not even occur to her that he would not know, as she had led him here. She was too distracted.

@[Skywalker]