Love in a hut, with water and a crust,
Is - Love forgive us! - cinders, ashes, dust.”
- John Keats

Loneliness and boredom are typically two things he simply doesn’t feel. In fact, he’d come here in the first place to take a break from the stresses of his herd. During the never ending Tallsun, the colors in The World’s Edge had grown clotted and somber, the sounds discordant, ominous. Now, the fire-blasted landscape is as grey and bleak as the craters of the moon, populated by cantankerous unicorns that Cineviam cared not to interact with today. His ashes were of more welcome company but he couldn’t enjoy them when they are in constant competition with the ruined residue of the forest.

Since the Sun God incinerated a large chuck of their forest, Cineviam had gained a smidgen of anonymity in the rest of Helovia. A coat of ash finely layered over everything in the territory – every withered bush, charred tree, even staining the inhabitants – there was no escaping it. Once the passerby’s recovered from their fright because the very scent of him turned their minds to the possibility of a nearby wildfire, the perpetually shedding beast simply became one of those pitiable unicorns that an angry deity had unleashed His rage upon.

For a while the storm-painted titan finds himself grazing alone in the vast meadow. It was the first rib-sticking meal he has had in days and he devoured everything in excess. A filthy radius started to pile around him, his ink-chapped lips first sweep aside the soot then deftly rip at pull, mumbling at whatever he can get them around. The vegetation was dry and brittle and it didn’t take long before Cineviam developed a thirst. Plus, the grass might still be pleasantly green by the water and he knew that the little green shoots are the sweetest. And so, determined to have his treat he headed toward where the river carved through the land.

He did not see the bathing beauty until he stood at the banks precipice, looking down.

Almost every inch of her is submerged in the water but he glimpsed all that he needed to and there was no horn perched like a crown upon the mare’s head. Grey ears lean back fractionally, displaying his obvious distaste at having to share the same water source with a hornless. The herd he was brought up in was blended of blood and species and Cineviam didn’t harbor the same intense hatred that many of his current herdmates bore toward Pegasus’ and Equines. He simply found little fault in his genetics and therefore preferred those of his own kind. No good could come of this chance meeting, especially if it reached the ears of certain alliances in The Edge. Nevertheless, he always made sure to assert himself as an alpha-type creature of wherever he happens to be at the time. Should he decide that her presence was too bothersome, it would be the mare that was removed. His ashes seemed neither interested nor repelled by the maiden so he took his cue from them.

He ignored Daenerys as he lumbered down the slope to get his drink.