At a first glance there was nothing strange at all about the scene that unfolded before her eyes. A first meeting between two stallions, horses that didn't know each others names but who seemed to strike it off from the very beginning, kindred spirits if you will... But sadly, as the conversation unfolded the brow of the black pegasus raised higher and higher, alarm bells soon beginning to sound at the back of her mind. Intent on not missing a single word uttered the mare stalked closer, small hooves soundless on the moist ground, careful to stay downwind of the equines and keep herself in the shade beneath the trees. The rain and haze made it easier for her to some extent, but also increased the risk of accidentally blowing her own cover; waterlogged branches could bend, droplets cascade down into the underbrush with a rush of sound - and there were no birds to explain away the suspicious noise now. They were all tucked away in hollows and nests, riding out the drizzle with saint-like patience.

The Sleuth had no such thing as patience.

Annoyed at the lack of visibility she tried to inch even closer, heavily confident on her own invisibility. She wanted to know more about this Nique, about the names they threw around with such reverence in their voices. She had to find out more about this business of 'ridding the country of stains' as the buttermilk buckskin so vividly described it - it had a nasty ring to it, and she didn't blame the younger tobiano for his hesitation. The whole matter left a bad taste in her mouth, it reeked of rebellion, of no good intentions; she had to know more.

Thus, she became careless. In her effort to move to a thicket just beside the two horses she took her eyes off the ground, and almost immediately managed to step on a twig - not yet soaked through by the rain, still dry and dead in the core.

It snapped. The sound wasn't overly loud, but in the stillness of the day it could as well have been a gunshot at night, and of course it would have to go off just as they both fell quiet. Shadow bit back a curse and froze where she stood, holding her breath; would they notice her? A quick look around revealed that she was well covered behind a thick wall of greenery, young saplings of willow growing so closely together that it was all but impossible to get through. Yet at the same time her ability to camouflage herself was fracturing as the concentration was broken... Would they come to check it out? Would they see her?

By the moon, she would be in for a whole world of trouble if they saw her now.