[ Sorry for the slight wait, I was away for a few days ^^ ]

You never knew what you would find here—after all, one day, a long time ago, Mauja himself had passed this invisible border. Renegades and outcasts, vagabonds and criminals.. everyone came here. Some were happy, and some were sad. Some had lost everything, and some had come to gain everything. Mauja had come here as a wanderer, looking for a place to settle, maybe not for forever, but for a while at least. He had come, he had found the Edge, and he had ruled.

Then, you can insert a few years of crap, but oddly enough he was back where he had begun, as a regent of the Edge, coming to the Threshold and looking for souls to fill out his ranks, wondering who they were, where they came from, and what they wanted.. what they dreamed of, what they feared. What purpose did they seek? What made their gears turn and hopes burn?

The large newcomer introduced himself as Tembovu, and Mauja silently repeated the name. It was a strong but oddly gentle name, and something in him itched to say it—to try it out, to see how it felt to say.. while some quieter voice underneath whispered that it was a name you could have much fun with.. yelling it, or simply making it a deep, dramatic Tembooovu, or a shorter staccato Temmbovu and.. and really, it didn't matter. Just useless little things to fracture his attention and distract the restless pacing of his heart.

But he smiled all the same, a gentle curling of his dark lips, acknowledging the distance between the edges of the world—and Mauja had nearly come from another edge himself, a place so far north it could be the roof of the world.

"Aye," he hummed in quiet agreement, glancing back at the owl for a moment—rain slid off his feathers comfortably, amber eyes fixated on the mare. Mauja suspected he was just staring vacantly, and it happened to be in her direction, but he wasn't sure; just nodded mutely at the large stallion's suggestion to move out of the rain. Mauja didn't particularly care about the cold water flattening his coat, but the mare—Rexanna, of the Basin as he thought—seemed eager to get out of it. Her statement even drew a short, soft laugh from him, and as her golden form passed he followed, ambling along with easy grace.

She picked a decent spot under some still-thick autumn foliage (not that much fell off in this forest, considering there were many pines), but Mauja, not as bothered by the rain, just stopped where he was and let the rain fall as it willed on him. It fell down with a pitter-patter on leaves, singing to the forest in its own way.

"I probably could," he agreed with Rexanna, kind of absentmindedly as he stared through the grayish curtain of rain. What was the Basin like now? With Deimos, and Ophelia? He knew what Deimos had once thought of most things living (Mauja had always suspected he'd been part of the Plague to get a free license to kill, and not because he disliked the hornless more than he disliked anyone else), but Ophelia? He could hardly imagine her condoning racism, so.. maybe it was just one of those "oh, the Basin has always been unicorn only" things .. and soon, Mauja would have to go find out. Diplomatic lead, remember? He blinked the water from his eyes, gave his head a small shake, and settled his gaze on Tembovu.

"The World's Edge is to the west, a forested, foggy plateau with a dead-drop down into the sea—aptly named, you see. Our patron goddess is the scandalous Moon, but she's kind of out of favor right now for.. eerr.. possessing the leader of the Dragon's Throat and using him to go on a killing spree." Hardly the best way to get someone to live in your home. 'Hey, we worship a goddess that thought it was fun to go and murder lots of people!' "But Helovia's gods are always going on about balance, and every once in a while one of them gets out of line—a few years back it was the Sun—but then it evens out again..." He shrugged. "We're currently a very small herd, seeing as the leadership changed just a few days ago after the previous herd re-located—so if you're looking to throw yourself into responsibility and work, there's definitely room for us to give a newcomer like yourself a chance at it." Slowly, Mauja's head tilted to the side, pale eyes alight with something as a slightly bashful grin spread over his face. "I suppose that might've just left you with more questions than answers, though. Ask anything—" Again, he glanced to Rexanna to include her in this offer, "—and I will do my best to explain."

[ @[Tembovu], @[Rexanna] ]

lord, the demands you're making-
help the monster on two feet
walk him down the hall, repeat
and when he's strong enough to stand alone
you'll notice what big teeth . . .