It was, it was, it was! It was her! The golden princess, the white-maned heir to the throne!

Watching the bright blue eyes of the copper mare widen, my own mirrored the action, and my mouth slowly began to drop open and stretch back in a wide grin. Everything else, my boot, my tomfoolery and downright embarrassing display at being startled, all of it had suddenly been forgotten in the white blazed face of royalty. It was clear to see that the princess hadn't been expecting such a question, but in my defense, I hadn't been expecting to run across the fair maiden on Helovia's beaches, or anywhere so far from the Kingdom.

"I am," came the chime of my voice, a quick answer to an easy question, one I was and would always be proud to give. Had I been born canine rather than horse, my tail would have surely been wagging so hard that my entire body would be quaking and wiggling back and forth, but lucky for me, that wasn't the case. She only confirmed my suspicions further when she spoke her name, and only another from Ossic Briar would have known that, and only the princess herself would have... well, looked like the princess.

She asks if she knows me, and only then does my face slip into something of incertitude. Did she? I had stood before the Queens themselves many a time, but at this very moment, I couldn't recall a time where Romani, too, had been present. "I don't know," I answered honestly, brows furrowed as I tried but failed to remember, "I really don't. I served as a courier beneath our fair Queens, but I'm uncertain if you were ever present. You may have seen me when I was just a boy, though, when I accompanied my mother on routes throughout the Kingdom." Back then, my young mind had paid little attention to those around me, focusing completely instead upon mother and our task at hand, a habit that was both good and bad I suppose.

A troubled look blitzed across my face then, and I looked upon the princess with utter confusion. A gypsy, she was? A curios thought, really, and instantly she had managed to grab my attention tenfold. I might have asked why she traveled without company, but then I recalled the white tigress standing near her, whom she had called Kasai. "A companion, you say? Can... Can you speak with her? Does she talk?" Each syllable was coated with just a little more excitement, until I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Calm down, Finn, before you hurt yourself.

"If I could ask, my lady," I continued after a moment, meeting Romani's gaze as my own shone with curiosity, "Why are you so far from the Kingdom? Do our Queens know?"


"talk"
F I N N
to coax the darkness into light