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Quick breaths escaped his lungs, fogging just slightly in the cool spring night. His heart thrummed rapidly in the middle of his chest, the beats so quick they could have been mistaken for the sound of a humming bird's wings. His ears strained to hear anything over the sound of his own heart and breathing, both of which were loud in his ears. After just a couple long seconds of relative silence he heard the quiet steps of another from within the confines of the forest. For a moment he didn't want to move, to risk drawing any further attention to himself in case this was some sort of predator or otherwise unsavory sort. He risked slowly swiveling one ear in the mystery-creature's direction, one eye straining to follow suit. A strange glow stuck out from the dark. His breath caught in his throat, his head slowly turning to focus on the creature in the shadows. As the stranger came closer the glowing light became more visible and bright, attracting his attention. The colt's wide green eyes were now able to make out the pale coated body of another equine.
He shuffled sideways, one hind toe dragging its tip through the soft turf as he turned carefully to face the pale stranger. He simply watched her for a second, cautious and assessing whether or not he should run. He longed to be friendly and eager to meet anyone but in this dark and unknown land he knew not who might be a threat. His whole body shook slightly, the soft feathers of his dark wings rustling together at his sides as he warily watched her. When the mare stepped just out of the tree line he relaxed visibly, his striped rib cage shuddering as he let out a long exhale. Just being able to see the stranger made him ever more relieved. Dark rimmed ears slid forward at his poll when her feminine voice rang out, inquiring about his well being.
A lop sided but gentle smile tugged at the corners of his velveteen lips, his muscles untensing finally. "Are you alright, sir?" she'd asked, a simple enough question. His jaw clenched slightly, his tongue pressing flat to the roof of his mouth and his heart aching in his chest. He yearned to cry out, to scream all the pain away, to say that he very much was not alright, that he might never be alright again. He wanted to tell her everything, he wanted to pour out his heart to this kind stranger. He felt as if his throat was tightening and he was being choked internally, his breaths turned ragged and his eyes burned as he held back the salty tears that welled in his eyes and threatened to overflow down his golden cheek. In all his life he'd never felt this sort of pain that he'd been living with in the months following the loss of his sister and the betrayal of his family. What was even worse was that everyone that had been closest to him was gone, he had no one from his old life that truly knew him, knew what he'd been through.
He blinked back tears, taking a shuddering breath and attempting to regain his composure. "I'm..I'm alright." He said, his voice cracking slightly and threatening to give away his crumbling emotional state. This poor mare didn't deserve to have someone else's problems thrown on her shoulders. He took another deep breath, this one more steady than the last, and released it slowly. He felt slightly more stable now, at least not so close to the brink of crumbling apart in front of someone he'd just met. He took a few cautious steps closer to her, halting only a few feet away. Closer to the pale coated mare he came to a startling realization, she so very much resembled his only childhood friend. Some part of him wanted to all but crash into her, to embrace her and tell her how he'd missed her. The rational part of him made him stay where he stood, knowing that this wasn't Kellan, that he hadn't found his long lost friend, but possibly found a new one.
His masculine head tilted slightly, frosted forelock falling gently over the lower side as he watched her curiously. He noticed something slightly amiss - thinking back to how she hadn't looked directly at him earlier - and now taking note of the milky color of her eyes. His mother had a similar look to her right eye, glassy and glazed. Anixiel wondered if she might be blind, it seemed she very well could be with his reasoning but he dared not ask. He'd learned that lesson from the one time he'd made the mistake of asking his dam about her own glassy eye. She'd never liked talking about any thing that might make her 'weak' by anyone's standards and knowing that some might not take kindly to such a question he made a mental note of her potential disability but said not a word regarding it.
The young stallion listened attentively when she spoke again, telling him her name, a strange phrase and acquiring if he needed any aid. It was the middle part that piqued his interest, one invisible brow quirking in mild confusion. "I'm Anixiel, or Ixie." a brief pause followed his greeting before he continued, "..Dragon's Throat? ....You.. You don't actually live..in a dragon, do you?" He assumed it very well was the name of some territory here but he'd encountered many strange things in his life and he wanted to make sure all the same. It couldn't be safe to live in the throat of a dragon, that was for sure. "And I could use some assistance, if you aren't in any rush. I've never been here before and I must admit; I'm quite lost."
@[Rasta]
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