“Greetings, Midas. I am Aure, and I am new to the Dragon’s Throat herd. It is very nice to meet you.”

A soft smile twisted each corner of his ebony face at an upward angle. Aure, such a pretty little name—he stored the information away for later use. Retracting from muddy bank until he was planted upon firmer ground the stud stepped back with attention and body posed to regard her fully. Bottomless tawny pits twisted along female features in memorizing detail before grazing the shortened midnight black wings that framed her sides. Returning toward emerald colored tones a smile remained even as he traced out her weaving mark to find ending point.

“I’m afraid I know not much about you, or really anyone else here, forgive me. How long have you been in the Throat? The only one I have met has been Tares, do you know her? She is a soldier and I owe her my life, due to killing a snake that was about to kill me. She invited me into the herd and I was appointed a soldier as well. I’m also afraid I do not know much about the position of soldier either. I have much to learn.”

Her lengthy sentence held his attention fully; velvet pecks held themselves erect to catch every sweet syllable. Bannered tail flicked away an invisible fly and sides heaved with voice readying to spring forth, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Aure,” head tilted downward with a quick jerk before steadying, “I was born in this barren landscape,” forelock fell forward as he leaned toward her with nostrils hinting on flare. He considered her next bit of information—no, he hadn’t heard of a mare by the name she gave. But since he spent a good deal of his idle time alone, it really didn’t surprise him that there was a female that didn’t ring his mental bells, “Nay,” he murmured softly, “I haven’t met your friend,” orbs softened and held a firm stance, “But it is pleasant news that she was useful to you.”

Remembering that she had also mentioned something about not knowing their duties as said, ‘soldiers,’ jaws fell apart with masculine tenors rising to give short explanation of their purpose in the herd, “We are used to guard boarders during times of peace,” skull turned shapely muzzle toward a distant clearing that couldn’t be seen from their pointed position, “and assure that dangerous beasts remain outside our land.” Façade fell into a grimlike expression as he added softly, “During times of battle and war, we are the front line.” He glanced over her feisty frame once more, pondering to himself if the lass was battle worthy—of course there was little room for boasting when the heart of battle had yet to be seen by his eyes.

In attempt at turning conversation from unpleasant topics he smiled, cranium turned round and offered her a returning question, “Have you found your stay in the throat pleasant?”


Word count: 386

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