He didn't move to look at her as she slipped in by his side, light footsteps betraying her presence along with a waft of girl; sweet and full, pleasant yet mysterious and infinitely pleasant even despite the slight tang of fear and dirt that came along with it. As she studied him in silence a woolly gray ear rotated towards her, an acknowledgment to her presence that did nothing to break the tense quiet that hovered in the air - Kari was busy thinking, so busy that it took him several minutes to notice the faint glow that emanated from the filly.

Blue eyes turned ever so slightly and regarded her from beneath the pale forelock, a sideways glance that let him see without being caught looking - a convenient trick that his mother had fully mastered, and that he hadn't thought much of until now. She was pretty, tall and so slender that it bordered on skinny with silver mane tied into looping braids over the neck. In the faint white light that emerged from the center of a rock in her braids all colors had become faded and grayed, but the redness of her coat was still easy to spot - that, and the golden moon that curved across her face as she stared into the dark cave before them. Kari felt his face grew hot as he looked at her, a physical reaction to a strange tingling of the stomach - this was the first girl he had met that could be considered his own age. Something about this seemed important, yet in the confused rush of thoughts and impressions that dulled the sharpness of his mind he couldn't find what it was.

Abruptly the colt turned the eyes forward again and flexed the wings slightly, suddenly very aware of all the ways he was different from her. "A cave" he replied dryly, thankful that his voice remained even and with an intended hint of humor rather than squeaky, high or broken, glad to be able to break the silence - his own thoughts weren't always pleasant company.

Finally he turned the head and looked at the filly directly, cloven hooves crunching faintly against the sandy stone floor as he shifted stance. Eyes went curiously to the milky white stone in her mane, wheels spinning in the young mind as he tried to push away the awkwardness and embarrassment to gauge the strength of that glow. Would it be enough? Yet he couldn't see any other solution to the problem at hand, so with a mischievous smile appearing on the lips he tried to meet her gaze and flicked the long tail in her direction.

"Want to check it out?" he asked and took a few steps forward. It took a great deal of courage from himself to do it - he still had the fright from last time fresh in memory, and wasn't exactly eager to experiencing that again. But the presence of this girl somehow made bravery a lot easier to muster - heck, it almost began to seem like a good idea to let the darkness swallow him again, now that he had a companion and a light-source to bring along.


I see your true colors