( takes place after this thread. Monster first, then anyone is welcome. ^^ )

Just before dawn.

He'd walked through the night, and it had perhaps been the strangest night of his entire life. The moon had risen and its silvery shadow across his eye had deepened, and then the moon had sunk again, and taken the shadow with it. The stars still shone strongly on a fairly dark sky, but in the east it was lighting up to pastel orange and pale peach. It was beautiful, and the air pleasantly cool, but it also signified the start of a new day: another day of heat torment, of sweat that lathered the flanks, dehydration which threatened to kill you... Dust, stirred by gentle warm winds, was the most common thing in the dried beds of the creeks, and where water had been one day, it seldom was the next. Still, the time left before sunrise was beautiful. He enjoyed the play of color across the sky, the soft, cool breezes... Some peace and quiet before the birds began to sing, some freedom before the oppressive blanket of heat returned.

But that wasn't why it had been a strange night, or a strange day.

He'd found a unicorn in the Threshold, one that had attacked him without warning before fainting. That had been.. okay, he guessed. Weird, but it could've had a reasonable explanation: delirium from heat stroke, exhaustion... Bipolarity. The stallion had had a rope around his neck, and tripped on it once, so Mauja had grabbed it while he waited for the stranger to come to. He'd woken up alright, but with the same vacant-yet-alert expression in his fiery eyes, and the same lack of verbal communication. Only a single word had passed from the monster, and it had sent a shiver down his spine. It had been downright eerie to hear that strange creature call him Master, and then, without hesitation, obey his every whim, every tug on his rope. Or, well, the two tugs necessary to get him going. Mauja hadn't dared let go of the rope, unsure of what would happen when he did. But eventually he would have to. Would his new pet explode into a rage again, or stay calm until ordered? Would Mauja have to pass him around, so someone always babysat him? And who could he trust with such a dangerous weapon?

The open expanse of the Thistle Meadow gave way to the sloping ground of the Edge, the ground covered in a carpet of ash and the trees charred black and limbless. Destruction greeted him, as always, and he slowed slightly to pick his way through the debris. He hoped his pet was holding up well, and not stumbling too much on the unfamiliar terrain. He didn't dare let go of the physical link of control just yet, so he couldn't call out to his herd - besides, he didn't know if he wanted them to meet him before he'd figured him out. Kou would probably opt for pushing his pet off the Edge... Kou was sensible, and with a pang of guilt Mauja thought that maybe he should listen to her sensible, cautious advice more often. Oh, well. Too late for that. He led the way past the charred circle where the Sun God had risen in a pillar of fire, stepping across it with scorn. Stupid god. The destruction fanned out from it, but he headed deeper still while the sky brightened further. Eventually the ground became dried grass, browned and tasteless but still nutritious. Still he walked on, silent among the ruined trees, and then he stopped. One of the few still open creeks of the Edge lay before him, the waters cool now that night had chilled them. Mauja turned to his pet; if he'd been tired enough to faint in the Threshold, he surely needed a good drink and some food too. Mauja himself needed it, but had no real idea how to go about it without accidentally setting the stallion loose in his realm. "Drink," he growled, voice muffled by the rope, made rough by his fixed jaw. "Eat."