There were many places in this land that were unknown to the shadow mare. For someone tasked with keeping track of the comings and goings of the herds and information gathering in general, this seemed like a major flaw. It was one thing to hear her informants talk about a region, but without actually having been there herself it was difficult to truly understand the trials and difficulties they might face.

So, like the true wild child that she was the little mare took it upon herself to change her lack of knowledge. It had become stifling in the Throat lately anyway ever since the unicorns of the Basin had been driven out, and for someone like her who thrived in times of chaos, she found that she had to stir up some trouble herself in order to remain sane.

Perhaps the stinking, muddy, mosquito-infested marshlands hadn't been the smartest of destinations to pick, however. It had been one thing to fly over it, and a completely different experience wading through the greasy muck. Her ears were gone, hidden into the wad of thick coarse mane in a frown of disgust that was threatening to become permanent as she shuffled forward, sweating and panting in her efforts to keep a straight line. Getting lost would be no hard feat; already she had only the sun in the sky to navigate by, and sometimes not even that as vine-covered trees and tangled branches blocked the sky from view. It felt like she was walking under water, the humidity so high that it was all but impossible to breathe - and the dirt was everywhere, as were the insects. Hissing snakes, snapping turtles, hungry looking fish in the deep pools made the raven reluctant to set her hooves down at all, but she had to. There was no room to spread her wings here, she was a trapped bird who had lost track of where the opening to the cage were.

Eventually she had to stop. Chest heaving and with the lavender eyes dimmed and fatigued from exertion Skuggi leaned her shoulder against the trunk of a tree. Immediately the biters came swarming in, leaving her skin twitching and tail flinging as though she stood in a minor hurricane. It was painful, maddening; but not more so than knowing that it was she herself who had gotten her into this mess.

She licked her lips thirstily and peered around, wishing, not for the first time, that there was something to drink. Her spirits brightened as she caught the glimpse of something glittering up ahead, and with renewed energy the shade heaved herself forwards again. Breaking through the tough the heavy, dripping underbrush she emerged in a small clearing where the trees parted just enough to let down the sun. Light played over the surface of a mirror blank, silvery pool that exuded the sweet scent of fresh water. Smiling brightly at the thought of icy (okay, lukewarm, but still) liquid running down the throat she trotted forward to the water and lowered her nose towards the surface...

Too preoccupied by her own thirst, she failed to notice the bloated carcass of a deer on the brink a few yards away, half-hidden by bushes, its head sunk beneath the surface of the small lake.

@[Carnesîr]

It was a good thing that he called out when he did. Satin lips mere inches away from the mercury surface the voice carried over to the rounded lobes of the shadow and made her freeze where she stood, surprised at finding another so close. Her breath caught at the back of the throat, the little crow blinked and let her eyes glide over the water, lavender gaze peering around, over, into the liquid.

With a half-choked cry of disgust the pegasus threw the head up and recoiled, revulsion and fear apparent on her visage as small, hard hooves backed away from the edge of the pond. "Disgusting!" she exclaimed and stared around wildly, trying to find a place where death was not apparent - how had she not seen this before? Sure, the festering much did give off a foul odor, but she had thought it was just the mud and the leaves and... and not dead things.

Desperate to find something living to rest her eyes on, Skuggi turned around where she stood and faced the owner of the voice. Her first instincts as she noticed what exactly he was were to recoil. Wings heavy with damp feathers spread wide on both sides, flared in foolish bravery to made the small femme seem bigger, stronger, more intimidating. She cursed herself for leaving the broken spear of a horn back in the Throat and eyed the stranger warily, her orbs gleaming worriedly in the peculiar light under the trees.

"Who are you?" the black dove asked suspiciously, voice tense and terse, attention focused but still unable to hide the curious music of awe that filled her chest. She had lived in Helovia for a mere two seasons. It was far too short a time to have gotten over the shock of finding horses with horns and without wings, much too brief a period to invoke any real sense of hatred or loathing towards the horned ones who supposedly were enemies. While Shadow had no patience for racist bastards who thought themselves greater than her, she couldn't help herself; she still found the lithe, elegant creatures endlessly fascinating.

And, as it would seem, this stallion that stood before her were a very handsome representative of his kind. Slender and lithe of built he still stood a full hand taller than herself, a fay beside her earthy bulk. For the first time she found herself hating the slender but oh so visible muscles that swelled beneath the thin summer coat, loathed the scars that marred her shoulders and flanks. A black, ragged troll next to a wisp of an elf, she ogled him suspiciously, longingly... If she only had been beautiful like him.

"Did you follow me?"

Ugh, he had to point it out too. Her ears dipped backwards briefly in dislike, an even as the wings began to slowly retreat to their folds along her sides the black raven turned and moved, inching her way towards more solid ground that weren't so full of... dead things. She was not a picky individual. Dirt and dust and water was nothing to the forest spirit, she was used to the pelting rain and the freezing blizzards, well traversed in the secrets of crossing bogs and navigating narrow ravines on steady wings. She had seen and shed more blood in her short lifetime than she liked to think about, all in order to secure food and water for another day, to save her life and her honor from those that would try to claim either, or both.

But death frightened her. It was much too personal, too close to the memory of what she had lost to make her comfortable. Skuggi didn't know how the boy could stand there so calm and at ease when the rotting flesh and pale bones of countless lives could be hidden just beneath their feet. If only she had been able to fly away. This was decidedly not a hospitable place to live, and she more than understood now how this would be a suitable hiding place for maddened outcasts.

His voice rang out into the suffocating, damp heat of the day, answering her questions one at a time. Introducing himself, even. What a gentleman. The mare tried to pronounce his name in her mind, attempts to form the tongue around the flowing syllables a precarious process that she quickly gave up on. "Carn, then" she aptly re-named him and relaxed a little - no one in their right minds would introduce themselves before attempting an attack. "I'm certainly not a hero, you know. There's nothing glorious about my scars at all, they're only reminders of poor skills and bad luck. If I had been any good at what I did, I wouldn't have had them."

The shade snorted and shook the head, sending the thick mane flying amidst a swarm of pestering insects that had swooped in now that she was no longer in motion. "I'm just a shadow, in name and form." Which was a truth however he might twist and turn it. It was her name, her profession, the skills she used to gather the information she could for the leader of those who had taken her in, given her home when none other had. In that she guessed that she also was a follower, a warrior who had defended their land against attacks...

"I guess I can be just about whatever you want" she murmured, not aware that she had spoken out loud until the words fell from the tongue. Flicking the tail in annoyance over herself, she returned her attention to the buy and cocked the head to the side in a birdlike manner, wariness slowly giving in to a form of wry humor as he seemed eager to play guessing games. He must be younger; it was always hard to tell with the wingless, their movements were always so much faster on the ground without the bulky wings to hinder them, but his enthusiasm made the raven feel old and boring - gods, were he going to drag out all the things she disliked in herself?

"You... look like an entertainer. A dancer, perhaps, or a storyteller. How about you keep me company while I search my way out of this godforsaken swamp? Tell me a story, to shorten the road. Unless you're busy, of course."

Either way was fine with her, as long as they didn't remain standing much longer. It felt like she was slowly being eaten alive, and with thirst burning in the throat and the sun passing along the sky she was eager to leave this place.

Violet eyes followed the slender shape of the unicorn as he began to walk ahead of her, smiling and light-footed as he danced through the marsh. For a moment she hesitated, wariness wanting to keep her from following behind the gray ghost for fear that he might lead her astray - she'd heard far too many stories about horses getting lost only to be led to their demise by beautiful strangers.

Curiosity made her step forward, however. Like a shadow the little mare tripped after the young stallion, ears alert and ticking in pace with his words as a story unfolded, given life from the soothing voice and her own vivid imagination. It wasn't exactly a happy story, but it suited the mood of the region they walked through. Nothing to go with stories of death but the dead themselves... Skuggi shuddered, suppressing the desire to try and lift; she wouldn't get far, not with the canopy hanging so low above the head. Instead, as something rustled a bush on her right and startled her, she hurried forward and slipped in closer to her guide, shoulder close enough to press against his flank. The picture of a foal following a parent came uninvited before her inner vision, but the raven pushed it aside just as quickly.

"What a... nice.. story that was" she murmured as he grew silent, lavender orbs eying the other sceptically - though how she managed to remain suspicious of him even as she clung to his side for comfort was more than even the little pegasus knew. Maybe because it was easier than to acknowledge how his presence affected her, how nice it was to wander with his scent drifting to her nostrils... Silly girl. And a complete stranger too, she couldn't have much shame left in her.

"Speaking of ravens... I know a story about one. Once, a long long time ago when the world was still young, all ravens were white. Around that time, there lived an old eagle atop a tall mountain, so high that it tickled the belly of the clouds as they passed. This eagle fell in love with the sun, and craved it for his own; so one night when the sun had gone to sleep on the ocean floor, he swooped down into the sea and stole it away. The world became dark and cold, and all the animals cried because they missed the glowing orb. One by one they tried to find it, but none succeeded.

But the raven knew about the eagle and his love for the sun, and so she flew up to his nest and, sure enough, there among feathers and bones was the sun. And so she snatched it away and flew high and far into the sky carrying the sun in its beak, and when she was high enough she let it go so it could scurry back up into the heavens. And all the animals rejoiced, but the raven was sad; for her white coat was no longer white, it had become charred and sooty from being so close to the sun's fire. So from that day onwards all ravens are black, and they keep searching for glittering objects to carry away."

To be honest, the story had never made much sense to her. It was one that her mother had used to tell when Shadow was a foal, back when her family still had been whole. She had simply loved it because of how her father had smiled and called her 'litla hrafninn", how her mother had laughed softly and told her to beware of shiny things... A small, sad smile crept up on the maw of the short mare as she thought back on those times, realizing that the pain of her loss still was as sharp as ever.

"I was afraid of the dark as a foal" she admitted, belatedly coming back to the question he had asked earlier; not blaming him for the unease that had flicked through the brown gaze. "The Endless night didn't exactly make it better either. But I think I've learned how to control it, how to use it; my father used to say that only fools never fear, that it helps us know our weaknesses. For me, darkness is the best place. There's never a better place to hide, you never hear as many secrets as when people think themselves unseen."

The smile grew harder, colder. Yes, she was the perfect horse to serve as the Shadow of Dragon's Throat. The nights in the desert were black indeed, and nothing could cast as dark a shadow as the brilliance of the sun.

@[Carnesîr]

He had a point there. Shadow tried to remember a story that didn't have a bitter or sad tang to it, but none came to mind. There always seemed to be some unpleasant part to the tales told by the elders, if only so that the happy ending would seem all the happier.

She mulled over the thought as she padded behind him, barely seeing the gloomy landscape that passed around them. When a wisp of silken hair flicked across her cheek she flinched and threw the head up, startled at the sudden touch; the ears flung back in anger at the carelessness of the unicorn, she was about to tell him to keep his tail to himself when his words made her break into a sudden halt, too shocked for words.

Shadow wasn't used to being flirted with. Her only contact with stallions aside from her father and the newfound friends in the herd had been as she fought to save herself from the slavery it would mean to be stolen into a harem; to become a broodmare, used and discarded at their whims. And after seeing how her father wasted away after the loss of her mother, love had become a thing to fear. Her heart was well guarded, to the point where even friendship was a rare thing for the raven. She saw herself as someone cold, hard, strong and able - but beautiful?

Not in a million years.

After the initial shock settled, the mare found herself with an incredulous, disbelieving smirk on the face. A part of her wanted to laugh at the stallion, mock him for his bad eyesight and poor judgment - while another part felt more like crying in humiliation. She was beautiful? It wasn't something she wanted to hear from a unicorn who walked with a grace that made her chest ache, who's slender figure held an elegance and poise she could only dream of.
"You don't know what you're saying" she cawed hoarsely, having to force her voice out from a throat that had contracted in a strange way. The cheeks burned, heart pounding beneath the ribs so hard that she thought he must hear it.

Her head was a mess as she kept speaking, words falling like stones from her lips - he thanked her for the story even though it was old to him, and the mare wanted to snort at him again for being overly polite.

What was it about this boy that made her eject all thorns like this? Shadow felt like a hypocritical porcupine where she walked, close on his cloven heels with the skin crawling from his presence; was it pleasant, loathsome, did she want him to leave or come closer? She couldn't decide, her emotions was a mess.

His voice was a murmur in her ears, tongue uttering nonsense she neither could nor wished to reply to. The accent was foreign to her, melodic and soothing - yet even so his next question managed to startle her again, pulling her mercilessly from an absent-minded study of the lean figure that slithered along some invisible path before her, the rocking movement of slender hips waking something within her that she thought she had quelled a long time ago...

"What? Foal? Never" she spluttered, glad he was unable to see the furious blush that broke out over her face. "I mean, I guess it would be nice sometime, but... not now. I have too many things to do, to see and experience before I go and become... old and wise." Because that was a requirement for a parent, right? She remembered the soft smile of her mother, so full of wisdom, her fathers solid strength and experience...

"Besides, it's quite impossible to just 'have' a foal out of the blue" she pointed out, hurrying her steps so she could walk next to him, shoulders sometimes swinging close enough to press against his on the narrow trail. "You'd need... a stallion," she said, and this time there was no mistaking her embarrassment - the voice was unable to hide the uncertain tremor, eyes shying away from his brown gaze, "and I've never... been with.. one.."

Her voice died away, the mare stopped abruptly and turned the head away from Carnesîr. What was up with her, letting a stranger know something so... private, so... so... sensitive about her?

She couldn't laugh at him. A part of her wanted to, wished for nothing more than to throw the head back and chase him away with a cold, uncaring laughter, cruel and harsh in its utter rejection. Did he even know what he was saying, this boy not even dry behind the ears, still reeking of milk and longing for his mothers side? Shadow wanted to shove him back into the slippery, slimy waters he so quickly had escaped from, fighting an urge, a need to stain his brash innocence, dye it in shades as dark as her own bitter soul. They were both young, but she felt ancient and weary next to the dazzling optimism of his youth. It pulled at her, tugged with its alluring simplicity; his mouth at her ears tickled and she shied from the touch, but not before an electrical spark managed to sizzle down through her body, turning each nerve on edge.

"Is that how you see me" she mumbled and dared a quick glance at his face, handsome and attractive in all its ethereal grace; the raven had to look away again quickly, breath caught in the throat in shock, in apprehension, embarrassment, temptation as a brazen suggestion slipped across those warm, soft lips...

Violet eyes closed tightly. The voice of the winged bird trembled precariously as she spoke, words contradicting the truth her body whispered to her, betrayed by her inability to move away from him.
"You can't mean that. Why, for a complete stranger? You don't know me, know nothing of who I am, where I've been.. what I've done. I.. you.. you just... "

But her voice died away, muddled thoughts straying until she couldn't remember what exactly she had been about to say. Had it been that important? Something about responsibility, about how it would be completely foolish and stupid and how could he stand there and expect her to be so shameless as to say yes right out of the blue... Somehow the thought of turning him down had disappeared though, and in the torrent of emotion that rattled through her the black raven turned to look at the gray fae beside her...

A mistake. She shouldn't have. Because the moment she met his awkward, clumsy, yet nobly honest gaze and saw what burned in the earthen depths all resistance melted away. Not even Shadow could deny what her loins had been screaming at her for a long while now, nor did she manage to find a reason why it would be wrong to take this graceful creature up on his offer.

But did he know what he was getting into, by making the black mare aware of her own desires? Was he prepared for the strength of the fire that began to burn within the gleaming orbs, wild and fierce and proud despite, or perhaps because of the weakness she showed as she with a slight step lowered the head and turned towards him, quietly accepting the thoughtless, bold suggestion. Silken nostrils flared in a sharp sigh as the shadow gave in, accepting the situation for what it was, her movements growing sluggish as a dark nose hesitantly reached out to touch a gray shoulder, muzzle quivering as she leaned in close to caress the slender, frail looking neck...

In her eyes there was nothing weak about him, nothing to frown upon or smirk at in contempt. He was of a different kind from her, a breed more slender and lithe. Next to his fawn-like appearance she felt heavy, rough, ragged and dirty, and the thought that someone like him could desire one like her was incredible, impossible. Shy as a schoolgirl, trembling and insecure she hesitated; had he really meant it, or was he about to laugh at her now; the clumsy pegasus girl who couldn't separate a joke from the harsh reality of the world?