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I watched the stallion interact silently with the bird-cat on his back, ears tilted forward curiously. As they touched each other, I could not help but feel as if I was only experiencing a very small part of a communication that I could not hear. Were they mentally bonded? Was that how this worked? Or did they simply know each other very well? When the time seemed appropriate, I finally gave the stallion my name, my true name, waiting tense as he responded.
He complimented the moniker my family had given me, but I was not sure if he was sincere. Was he trying to flatter me? Was he one of the monsters that he had warned me about earlier? I could not imagine that the cat-bird would stay with him if his heart was that dark, but I was continually surprised by everything around me. Not all of those surprises were good. Especially when his next question came.
I felt my heart seize up in my chest with fear and hurt, and my ears tilted back. Though irrational, I had to question if he knew where I came from, if he knew someone there, and if he was here now to take me back. Was he one of the ones who had hurt my parents. My hawkish eyes narrowed in suspicion, and I took a guarded step back, widening the spread of my dark and blue, starry wings. Fortunately, at the same moment, his cat-bird demanded his attention, and I took a moment to breathe.
He couldn't be from where I ran. He just... he couldn't be. I had come so far. "Far away from here," I murmured quietly in response, finally calming enough to let my wings fall to my side again. "A place to where I will not return." The finality in my words even startled me. For so long the guilt had toyed with me, tempted me to go back to get my family, but I knew that I couldn't now. I could not even be sure that they were still alive.
I tried to hide the emotional hitch of my breath with a rustle of my feathers as the depression his like a northerly wind in the upper atmosphere. When he introduced his cat-bird, I tried to smile, the expression not reaching my sad eyes. I bend a single knee and bowed my head in the manner I had been taught when meeting someone for the first time, black and white mane falling over my face. "Please to meet you, Irelyn," I said quietly, casting a glance at the dark unicorn again.
Perhaps I shouldn't be so suspicious.
I watched him carefully, observing the strong, masculine lines of his features again, committing him to memory. Curiosity struck, and I was powerless. "Where are you from?" I asked.
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