You think I'll be the dark sky

It was another warm day in Tallsun that had caused Kiada to escape the clutches of the Basin. Had she been smarter, she would’ve stayed, possibly seeking refuge in the lake away from the heat. But the filly, despite her age, was a glutton for punishment. So her and Khairi trudged on through the sun and dappled streams that flickered through the leaves that towered over the duo in returning to the Threshold. Yet, again, as she had always managed to do in the Threshold, she danced between the different trails hanging onto the faint scents of horses that have passed through recently. Khairi, now having learned how to fly a decent amount, couldn’t keep from trailing between the branches of the trees. His mammoth spread of wings casting shadows across the flames that lined Kiada’s back that had taken shape as tiny rabbits – anticipation for what was to possibly come.

It wasn’t until the tiny filly had heard voices that she chose to divert her path. Ink dipped legs trailed across the earth to seek the creator of such noise. Khairi perched in the trees, keeping his ever watchful bloody gaze on the horizon, mentally helping Kiada follow the sounds with his (quite literal) birds eye view. As they approached, they lingered in the shadows to watch for a few moments, listening quietly as she spotted an equine mare and a Pegasus. They both were light, where Kiada carried her bronze, and they had hues of inverted dark patterns to Kiada’s own inky markings. And when she felt the time was right, after she had heard Elsa speak of companions and herds, did she think she’d make her move.

Placing a smile on her little pink splotched lips, she danced out of the shadows. Flames along her back taking shape as deer with antlers that reached toward the sky as they bounded across her spine. She dipped her head to the two women, a habit that she had learned easily from Mother when greeting people with kindness, and made her way into her own little section, not too close to either of them. Khairi kept his gaze on Edgar momentarily until Kiada had finished her entrance before the ivory bearded vulture began to descend from the shadowed branches he had previously hid in, and landed effortlessly along the filly’s withers, engulfing himself ever so slightly with the harmless flames as they made their way to move around him. His eyes left Edgar then and trailed to each face to assess the situation while Kiada began to speak. “Hello! I’m Kiada.” She began, turning her attention to the white and slate mare, who she had assumed was the newcomer the way that the last half of Elsa’s speech had gone. “It’s nice to meet you both. We’re from the Aurora Basin.” Her head shifted to Elsa then back to the newcomer, unaware of the way her presence might remind the woman of ice of a past love. Then, it’s as if she just now remembered the last few words Elsa had spoken about, of herds that could help be what the newcomer might’ve wanted. And with that in mind, she let her ivory rimmed eyes seek out the newcomer’s with a smile and a tilt of her ink dipped head. “Do you seek a herd?” She questioned softly.

"Talk."

so you can be the star? —

I'll swallow you whole.

Kiada