Well, it was certainly a comfort to know that he wouldn’t be the only one without something extra, else he might need to fashion something out of branches so that he did not stand out so much. Thankfully, that did not seem to be required. From the easy manner in which Midas spoke about it, all the species must be pretty welcome in Helovia – and if there were hybrids then perhaps they were not quite as different as Wilibald originally thought! Individual species, maybe, but all essentially the same.

Yes… it was a small comfort at least. This new knowledge might go a long way with his logical senses but that didn’t mean he was going to suddenly get used to the strange world he had found himself in.

New world, new terms. At least he knew what to call them instead of ‘bird horse’ and ‘horse with a sharp bone sticking out of their forehead’. Blessed was Wilibald for having met Midas and his patience, many would not have been so good natured about his ignorance. To the comment of how this home might take somet time to get used to - well - Wilibald grinned and a kind chuckle escaped from him. “I’ll say, but you’ve been a great help so far Midas and I greatly appreciate it. I am in your debt for providing me a safe home.” Just how he was going to repay that debt was not something Wilibald knew just yet, nor did he want to think about it quite yet. There were other things on his mind!

Other, beautiful lands are mentioned and Wilibald allowed himself to wonder at what they were like – finding this large, strange world just a little less frightening now that he was faced with such a familiar view. “I should like to see them sometime.” The comment is idle, it’s hard to focus on anything else other than what was before him. And, of course, such adventures would need to be undertaken after a good long sleep and several heavy meals.

He nodded cheerfully to the suggestion of descending and getting settled. What a wonderful word that was. ‘Settled’ – oh it would feel so good. “Marvellous! Now, an important question – are there specially assigned sleeping spots?” Wilibald’s herd had been rather fond of picking particular spots, and everyone was respectful of keeping clear of someone else’s placing, but some of the other Anduin ponies were not so picky and would have a new place every night.

If he was going to be staying here, the sooty pony wanted to get off on a good hoof! It was a grievous insult to sleep in someone else’s spot – especially when you were among the shorter of the population