Cheska tried not to widen her eyes too quickly at the sight of dragon wings. She tried not to picture herself stumbling out of her ordinary life, down the rabbit hole and into a fairy tale. She tried not to let the nervous squeak claw its way out from somewhere deep in her throat. She successfully managed to bite her tongue, but her hooves still shuffled fretfully. Merciful gods, that there is a real live dragon. She didn't think he looked large enough to eat her, but what did she know of dragons? Perhaps he could unhinge his jaw and swallow her whole. For all her talk, for all the nights she stayed awake to whisper stories of majestic reptiles to the filly between her knees, what did she really know of dragons?

Apparently, she knew that they were real. As were zephyrs. A pair of impossible beasts, and here they were before her.

Rather than stand gaping while she wrestled with the reality of her suddenly topsy-turvy existence, she accepted and filed this information as fact. So the dragons of fable were real, and this one's name happened to be Valiance. And the mythical zephyr was not so mythical, and this one was called Silas. Perhaps Cheska also should have mentioned to the soft gray mare that she happened to be on fire, but she seemed unbothered by it. This, too, she absorbed with little ado. What a strange, wonderful place she'd dreamed up. What beautiful, exotic creatures inhabited it.

She silently memorized each name one by one to hoard like little pearls. Resplendence. Valiance. Africa. Silas. She let them roll around her brain for a moment while she listened to the mares exchange greeting. She was pleased to be the third wheel for a moment, to watch as the awkward tension between strangers slipped into something a little more comfortable, something more familiar.

At Africa's words, she joined the conversation again. "I have always admired the botanically gifted," she chirped sincerely. "Givin life is always a commendable pursuit." More than taking it, anyway. She'd never had much mind for plants other than which ones tasted best, but then again, her head was more often in the clouds than the dirt, probably to her detriment.

She noted the directions, and the offers. She could choose, she supposed, one or the other, but the idea of closing one door to open another grated on her very nature. Resplendence could teach her of the plants she'd been disregarding. Africa could perhaps answer some of those questions she'd intended to ask her crow. She remembered words that had been seared into her heart many years ago. "You're both very generous to offer sanctuary to a stranger. I would take you both up on your offer to see both of your lands, if you'd be kind enough." She frowned, more to herself than anyone, struggling to articulate the sentiment. She continued haltingly. "I was once told that loyalty too easily given is no loyalty worth having. If you'd be so kind to take me in for a night, I would very much like to prove myself... decide my loyalty... to both your families."

She braced herself. She'd gladly sacrifice whatever influence her wandering status could afford her to supplicate for their time, their knowledge, and their friendship... unless it got her eaten by a dragon.


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tags] none
ooc] bleh.