All in all, the towering creature seemed little interested in Hildegunn as she lingered patiently in his dull shadow. The small horse’s eager eyes soon tired of their ambitious quest to ignite anything more engaging, than the blandness of indifference and disregard; they lowered a short time later, glazing a little before then wandering towards the tree line for respite. As she sighed quietly, shifting thought gradually from the stallion to the prospect of her nextactual meal, a flicker of light through the dimness of the forest beyond struck her fancy. Lithe ears swivelled forward instantly, honing in on the tall figure of yet another character emerging through a barrier of soft, fresh foliage.

The smile the young fjord mare had first given to the mottled brown nearby, promptly returned in favour of the (seemingly) friendlier soul who soon graced their presence; a soft whicker slipped by uplifted, rattling nostrils, and subconsciously, stocky limbs turned her focus still further away from the first. Without delay Hildegunn found firstly the tapering addition to his face (or skull?), and observed it with a boldly inquisitive eye. Never had she seen such a peculiar disfigurement. The look of it, perhaps the hue, invoked fond memories of her part-frozen homeland - in particular the frosted, sharp, glimmering peaks of unreachable mid-sea mountains. His eyes, she discovered as her own warm brown gaze dropped to find them, were the same bright, icy blue as the churning water that caressed those icebergs. Still more surprising was the almost familiar tongue which slipped readily from his dark mouth. Again her eyes sank, this time settling upon dark lips as they rolled and pursed around the hum of new words which she felt this time, were more similar to Vu’s.

Quietly, and with a more thoughtful look smoothing the lines of stupefaction from her sandy profile, the little horse considered dumbly his arrival. Though weakened a little, the cheerful smile remained.

After a lengthy pause, Hildegunn replied.

“Hil-di-gahn…” In the same moment she gestured (again like Vu had shown her), towards herself with a small dip of her nose. Her theory was that the stallion’s name should follow the revelation her own - or such was the course of the couple of conversations experienced in Helovia thus far. “Ja?” she added hopefully, nodding (maybe a little too) enthusiastically, and forgetting for the moment the other, who had more or less slipped from thought. Had he not been so enormous - and she been a little more perceptive, the girl might have noticed the other oddities about him - most obviously (but clearly not as exciting as the ‘horn’), the pale bird resting upon a long crystal stick, both fast upon his spotty back.