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]