It was funny to me how females seemed to travel in groups, unknowingly or otherwise… If it was not a lone youngster, it was some maternal fool, and here I had been approached by both. That’s not to say that they don’t have perfectly acceptable natures, but they had stumbled upon me in a foul mood and instead of dealing with the transgressions of one, I now had to deal with the pair. They were wholly unconcerned as to the matters of my heart and I now assumed the role of “ignorant male beast”. I knew we came in many different shapes and sizes, but these two had judged me quickly which spoke of their obvious ability to judge a character based on two things: the tail-end of a conversation and my lack of proper introduction. Perhaps I had come off gruffly to the young one, but this mare had absolutely no idea what was going on.

I smiled stiffly at the two before nodding solemnly. The girl, whom I now knew as Sikeax had come in search of mint leaves for her illness. I had obviously misjudged her but felt no need to apologize now. If I was going to be accused of speaking vulgarly to a child, then I may as well make it true. Funny how the young one seemed more earthly than the other when it came to dealing with my “improper” behavior. I would make note of that- she was a Throat citizen after all… I didn’t want frayed ties to interrupt our alliance as sister herds- if we were still considered as such now that Kri and Mirage no longer resided over the two territories.

I peered back at the pale colored child as she spoke demurely to the older mare who had also decided that the filly needed a motherly figure upon which to lean. Perhaps the filly was the only one amongst us capable of normalcy, which to me, was hysterical in and of itself. “Thor, the maniacal patriarch of Helovia: seeking to reprimand all youngsters with curse words.” and Dröm, moral matriarch of goodness: seeking to relieve all relevant youngsters of vulgar, insolent, stallions. What a trio we made.

Without worrying about the Chestnut mare, I turned back to Sia (whether I would refer to her as such other than in my head, I was unsure). “Mint leaves you say? Suppose we help you look for them?” It was the least we could do after all. This Dröm would simply have to tolerate my company if she wished to remain by the filly’s side. I tilted my head towards the woods to indicate my readiness and then looked to the mare with questionable doubt. “Hello, yourself.” I was a man of few words as of late and though I had gotten off on the wrong foot, I could at least appease one of these females. They were a hard specimen to please and by doing good for the one, perhaps it would mollify the other…

Or not. I certainly couldn’t be sure.