She had heard of the strange paint stallion named Moon Boy through the twisted grapevine that was Helovia's intricately messy network of informants. Apparently he had a knack for getting himself in trouble and a tendency to be a bit, well... off. That was what she'd heard, anyway, who knew if it was true. Kye had seemed skeptical when the idea of perhaps procuring the stallion for her own uses arose, but Xira had learned long ago to assume all thoughts the falcon had were fueled by cynicism and general grumpiness. So with a surprising burst of optimism, yet still an overhanging cloud of malicious intent, Xira had stolen the stallion from the wilderness around the throat with a clever tongue and an exploitation of the laws of the land.

And now he was hers. Her lips curled and from betwixt them emerged a light, pleased whinny at the thought. She controlled an entire life- could probably send the boy off the cliff, if what she'd been told was true. He was one of those crazy spiritual types- maybe if she told him a god was down there he'd actually go for the plunge.

But it was too early in the dark morning to be so sarcastic and witty- it simply hurt to gather all of her intelligence and place it in that sector of her mind. No, she was to apply some of her focus to strategy; after all, she had more than one reason for capturing Moon Boy above all others.

Because if she could get the stallion to secretly join the Throat... well, with all that travelling he supposedly did, he'd be an indisputably useful asset. And so, with Kye perched upon her withers, picking bits of dust from her mane, Xira waited with the moon low and dim as time ticked on and brought them to hours as unholy as two or three in the morning. With her growing impatience came a fiery temper, and with that came a massive wave of regret. Perhaps this had been a foolish idea after all- perhaps the stallion had already managed to somehow escape.

No, impossible. She'd watched him closely enough, kept Kye circling his path, and it was impossible that he could have slipped away unnoticed. No, the pair would simply lay in wait for the prisoner to arrive- the Dragon Throat's two dutiful night watchmen.