Abe caught the fleeting alarmed reaction of the brute at his entrance and the smile returned to Naberius’s handsome facade with gusto. It was obvious he had startled the colt but he wasn’t about to hold that against him, he was one sneaky bastard after all. Naberius let the boy settle back down but observed him prudently and admired how quickly he forced his features to resume a placid front. “I’m merely looking for a break from the cold, trespassing was not my intent. You say you’re from the Basin?” Naberius let a snort escape his nares and a chuckle filled the air as the crude attitude he held previously began to fade away. Abe had suddenly remembered one of the key procedures of the Basin and that was that all unicorns were to be treated with respect. Though it was such a silly little rule, in Abe’s humble opinion. Nevertheless he had to follow it, for now, so Naberius decided to lighten the mood and possibly put this intruder at ease.

“I’m only fucking with you boy!”

Naberius roared with mirth and pawed the earth unconsciously, his sharp mahogany talon removing miniscule divots from the frozen soil. Slowly his raucous laughter died and so did his mindless slicing as he once again made eye contact with the speckled dun behemoth below him.

“Seems like you’re in the entirely wrong place to avoid the cold sweetheart. But give a massive thanks to the two individuals that bumped uglies to create you. For that horn on the top of your pretty bantam dome grants you entrance into this artic sanctuary. You don’t even have to pay a fee, isn’t that wonderful!?”

Abe chortled again and shook his head, clearly finding himself very amusing. The newcomer reeked of naivety, it was obvious he was rather youthful, but Naberius figured that would change very quickly if he did find himself a place among their ranks. If the sheer racism of this herd didn’t distort the child then the cold would twist his bones and turn them to stone. He had to have been searching for the Basin. That was typically the only reason he could have even found this remote domain in the first place. Nobody decides to take a stroll through the Frozen Arch without an objective in mind and since the Time God had inaugurated this province to be infested with unicorns the Basin had become almost every horned nomad’s goal, in the end.

“Indeed I am from the Basin, seeing as you are in the Basin. Now what could I possibly help you with? Would you like a massage while you soak? Should I wash you behind your ears?”

Naberius’s tone was full of jest, merely all in good fun. He was toying with the lad and trying his hand at being mockingly hospitable, which was the only form of hospitality Abe knew. Did they have a new recruit in their mitts? He sure hoped so; anything to look worthy in the Queen’s eyes was what Abe was after. He would have her sooner rather than later, it had become a pert goal of his to bed the Empress and Naberius wasn’t one to give up on his resolutions…ever. Now all he had to do was play nice and Naberius might just take one step closer to getting what he desired, a roll in the hay with his dark Monarch.