Look down, the ground below is crumbling
Look up, the stars are all exploding
It was Silas- scouting which was his common preference while the pair dabbled in free-time, who spotted the stranger slipping so discreetly between the supernatural blocks in the Throat’s grand wall, firstly. The young Zephyr had taken a keen interest in the city’s defence, though it was rather a contrast to his mate’s more, tame, interests. Quietly he circled above her, at first so that his shadow passed only across the murky black of the towering wall. His young heart began to thunder as his keen interest began to swell. With beady black eyes, the midnight creature watched the stranger pass through until she was stationed within the desert realm, waiting. Dipping his wings as his path curled through another circle, Silas glided away from his lofty refuge and down fell his elegant shadow across the mare.

Africa felt the strange stirring of her bonded’s heart. He was not easily excited, she knew, and so with building interest she peered upwards in the direction from which he had parted to see if she could find his bird-like form in the air. Together, she and Silas had been developing the Zephyr’s new art, but it drained his energy quickly and so they had agreed to break until he felt fresher.

They rarely separated- never let distance build between one another, and on this occasion Africa noted with a tender smile that he was surveying perimeter once again. A light-hearted chuckle rumbled through the base of her throat as she considered his growing fascination with the herd’s army, the wall and all things military. In many ways the pair were as dissimilar as chalk and cheese. Their devoting to each other was something phenomenal though; their love unrivalled and unbreakable.

Slowly she advanced towards the spot beneath which he was now hovering, finding more and more as each day passed them, that her ability to navigate the slippery red sand was returning. Always a quietly modest smile turned the corners of her whiskered black lips, and it did not falter when she saw with surprise, the dark shape of another wingless horse.

Continuing at the same natural gait, Africa approached, sparing an upturned glance in favour of her beloved. Silas in turn began a gradual descent towards her.

“Hello…” Africa sang cheerfully out to the mare as the gap between diminished. The young dappled mare had not witnessed the recent horror between herds and was relatively oblivious to any threat which lingered by the Throat’s well protected door. Never the less, she was more than willing to offer this stranger the benefit of the doubt- her kin were cool and mostly approachable.

Africa halted so that a polite space was left in their midst. Thoughtfully she took a moment to assess the unknown visitor, a curious expression forming across her lovely grey face. To her right side, the lonely wing fidgeted; the mottled lacework of glorious feathers shining in the early light. “Can I help you there?” Naturally it was not necessary for Africa to reveal her identity first- she was quite at home in the parched, brutal southern territory.