Suddenly, the world wasn't empty anymore. It was filled with teeming life, with voices and rustling feathers. Filled with the warmth of bodies and the scent of mares- two mares. To his right a creature of the earth, covered in a sooty brown and white. To his left arrived a darker creature; he wondered if the shadow permeated her mind as well. Her wings, equally impressive, seemed as if they had been dipped in the ocean and kept its hue. The two of them were gorgeous, really. They were svelte and nimble, clearly capable of taking to the sky and treating it like land. They were different, and he assumed like he. These were no mere equines or unicorns. Just as he, and supposedly that mare in the foothills Archibald had mentioned, were the rare arborun of this land, these two seemed to be something of their own as well. A different, avian-kind.

He stood in silence, keeping his head facing forward and trying not to react to their splendor. He considered what to call them, but concluded that 'avian' was descriptive enough. He normally would have despised their company, but they seemed peaceful enough. The dark one had attempted to make conversation of a sort, but he brushed it aside for a moment or two. He was enjoying the crackle of the earth as it crumbled off and burned in the heart below- was relishing in the hissing sound of his own snow as it fell against the heat. They could wait for him to introduce themselves- they'd be lucky if he did it at all.

The volume of the snow increased but its speed did not. It grew thicker and laid a blanket across the earth and his hide, but still the warm thermals that the mares had rode in on pushed it away. The Arborun focused all his efforts, but he could only do so much in the heat without causing a storm. With a sigh, he turned to the sooty brown mare and lowered his head significantly to level it with hers; brought it close to make her uncomfortable. "It seems our company wants a conversation," he said with a wry smile and a heavy breath to tickle her nose, using the excuse for interaction to push away the haunting sensation of the fire's warmth against his skin which permeated the snow. He lifted his armored boot and let it drag through the icy covering with a rough motion. "Very well then, I'll show you mine if you show me yours," the arborun said more loudly as he lifted his head away and took a few steps backwards and away from the edge of the heart so as to address them both. The snow followed him, falling towards him as if he were a magnet.

He watched the pair with snow eyes, catching the flirtatious look of the one that seemed more like an owl to him and returning it with a cold, aloof one of his own. Whether or not it was flirtatious was up to interpretation, but regardless of what she thought, he was not feeling the love; at least not tonight. "Clearly none of us are the normal. So if you'll tell me a little more about yourselves, I might be inclined to share myself," he began with a sardonic upturn of his lips and a dry intonation. So the ocean-dipped mare was Avira, big deal. He wanted to know more than their calling cards, he wanted to know what the hell they even were."Come on now, ladies," Birch said with an impatient shuffle of his adorned hoof, "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity here."

And oh, how long a lifetime was.