She was so tense, so wary of him that the gray steed barely dared to breathe in fear of startling her. The anxious glances she gave him just barely thawed as he revealed his name, but it was so slight a change that Lace would have missed it completely had he not been regarding her so intensely. His heart ached for the injured child and at the same time a searing, painful rage had begun to glow in the depth of his gut. An intense, unyielding hatred towards the ones who had dared to harm the filly to this extent, to the point where she didn't even feel pride over her own name. Nobody she called herself and the grullo at once felt so worn, so old and tired; because how would he ever be able to comfort a soul so broken as this one?
"Then I'll call you Nell" he said softly, struggling to keep the pity out of his voice - it was surely the last thing she needed right now. "You must be cold. Come, let's get closer to the Heart. There's nothing to eat or drink there, but at least you will have some warmth." He waited patiently to see if she would accept his suggestion, prepared to walk by her side should she begin to draw closer to the glowing hearth.
For a brief moment gilded eyes trailed towards the bird that perched atop her bodice, trying to offer the young guardian some small consolation. He wasn't going to harm the little pegasus, nor did he wish to upset her more than necessary with harsh questions. He just needed to figure out who she was, so that he could follow her home. Anywhere would be better than here, where the darkness and the searing fire had scorched the lands barren and killed any grasses that might have been able to sprout from the ashes.
"You have a beautiful companion there" he continued in a soft murmur, with the quiet hope that peaceful conversation might make Nell relax a bit more. "Does he have a name? I have a companion too, a small dragon named Fajira... You can see her if you look above the Heart, she's the white one playing around in the air. There's no need to be afraid of her, she's quite kind even though her tongue can be sharp at times. She's always telling me what to do, as though she's the older of us." Not that she was, but something about the draconian mind always gave him an impression of timelessness, as though the physical age wasn't the only thing that mattered.
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