The night carried hints of forbidding cold and restlessness, a mixture without allure to the spy and her willful companion. Instead of remaining hidden away in the Throat, where one could find shelter from the plummeting temperatures, Essetia set out toward the north in search of purpose to fill her empty hands. She’d been too long without task and eagerly embraced the idea of wandering the moonlit walks of the Threshold… as she’d done so many times before. It was a mind-numbing chore that often left her feeling just as anxious as she’d felt before, but at least it gave her a sense of duty where none existed previously.

Essetia had always been a spy and perhaps an ineffective one at that, given her lack of participation in recent months. But there was little she could do to coerce her demons to speak their truths if she remained locked away in her ivory tower. So, with Romul leading her small tirade, the spy moved again into the claiming grounds after days of continuous travel. It coaxed the young mare from her worries and set her mind to purpose, a distraction unwelcomed by many.

Darkness had fallen across Helovia like a sheer veil lit only by moonlight. The winter months were dry and chilly, but nothing like the last coming of the snow. Essetia was grateful for the reprieve, but it only gave her reason to resume her haptic wandering. That emptiness, the void that left her feeling lost, would not settle… it would not run from her ever incessant urging.

Though, thoughts of her discomforts soon aborted and Romul alerted the spy toward movement up the beaten path. Night had given way into day and the high sun cast a shell of dismal warmth across their backs as they moved to approach the creature of interest. Although, upon discovering the mare that had piqued Romul’s curiosity, Essetia became uncertain of her wily disposition. It wasn’t often that the spy sought company of a frantic nature, and judging by the heat rolling from her sides and the uninhibited look in her dark, blue eyes, the mare was clearly more outspoken than Essetia herself. (Even if the spy was quite vocal more often than not.)

“Come one, come all I suppose,” she sighed softly to her wolf. The red-masked mare was anything but plain, perhaps oddly colored by her own comparison, but certainly not plain. She was robed in a silken mass of ebony that contrasted heavily with the crimson that draped across her nose, but the blue of her eyes was striking enough to avoid any misgivings elsewhere. “I trust you’re looking for shelter? If so, you’ve come upon the right place… Welcome to Helovia,” she greeted with a wary smile. Romul had come to rest beside his companion’s shoulder and, though he was not as icy as per usual, his gaze was just as steely and unassuming as the ice that sheeted nearby ponds. "I'm Essetia and this is Romul."