He body throbbed and burned, her chest heaved and with every breath the pain seared, her eyes hurt as the glare from the sun hit eyes that had long since adjusted for darkness - yet she didn't care. None of it mattered. The sun was alive again.

She kicked her heels into the grass, shoulders pumping as four crashing pillars carried her forwards as fast as the titan could go. She whinnied, throwing back her head and wincing slightly as her bundled mane slapped against one of the many burns that marked her legs. As she moved, her eyes caught sight of movement and she turned her head, glimpsing the painted body of a large equine. Going too fast to stop, and not rightly wanting to, she continued onward as the equine turned, kicking up dirt as he fell in line after her.

Missy, wait! Cried the equine, and she found herself beaming as she realized who the blurred face belonged to. She did not falter; she was too absorbed in her gallop, too overjoyed at the sight of the sun and too lost in her own feelings of sudden awe inspiring hope to stop. Yet the patchwork stallion managed to match her pace and she turned to face him, whinnying and ticking out her heels. Yet he was speaking, and it seemed too important to dance around bucking like a child. So she listened, and as she did, slowed her gallop.

I love ya, Missy!

Love.

Her?

She pushed down her ankles, skidding forwards as she dug her heels into the dirt and came to an abrupt stop. Loose strands of hair and her overly long fetlock swamped her eyes and shielded them from view, yet she made no attempt to fix it. Had she heard right? Slowly, she looked up as the stallion slowed also. A gentle wind blew the obscuring cascade away, allowing her to see him properly. He was acting so... so normal, so casual, as if his words had been as meaningless and as pleasant s 'good day to you ma'am', or 'hey, that's a nice patch of grass, may I take a bite?' Her eyes were wide as she stared at him, jaw slack. She must have misheard him, surely.

Clearing her throat, she relaxed, pulling her mouth closed and flicking the hair from her face. "Same, I havn't felt the need to run, but the sight of the sun... I couldn't help myself." She told the stallion, her voice slightly awkward yet trying to recover from her stupid mishearing ears tricking her into thinking he had said something unbelievable.

It wasn't that she had disliked the statement, but rather that she was uncertain anyone would ever love her. The barbarian was raised in solitude, raised to fear stallions (though since coming t Helovia, they had been nothing like the brutes of her homeland) and she was always under the impression that she was, well, strange. True, Tharos never had seemed put off by her demeanor, nor her stocky, messy appearance, but surely he would rather go after some pretty, dainty creature with a perfect pelt and long lashes who would bear him many beautiful children - not this thing with matted fur that was so wild she was forced to tie it up lest it strangle her in her sleep, and an ugly blood stained mark upon her face. She was stupid in even thinking those words had escaped his lips. Stupid. Stupid!

Suddenly, she became acutely aware of her burns, and oddly aware of the hot flush that was just as hot upon her cheeks. "Sorry, I'm distracted. Been... Hearing things, I guess." She told the stallion, turning away from him and gazing up toward the sun as she began to walk to cool off after the race across the meadow. "I really must see Apollo - these wounds are starting to pain me quite unbearably." She told him, her voice slightly hurried, as if distracting herself not only from the mistaken words, but that dream. The blank eye sockets were still vivid in her mind.

It was a bad day.

But at least it was a new day, at last.