While most of Vladic’s attention was turned to the strange, elegant creature that accompanied Lena, he kept the filly in the corner of his one good eye. She concerned him slightly as simply being alone at such a young made her a target – and also because there was definite fearful vibes coming from her. His ragged, tip-less ear focused on her at the sound of her sigh but his attention was pulled by yet more muffled footsteps. The newcomer grabbed his attention and he regarded the stallion with the same passive, if curious, air that he had the two women. This one, Vladic noticed, lacked a horn – though this fact mattered little to the old stallion, he considered it an interesting footnote that this place was not exclusively unicorn. “Well met, Ciceron,” he replied simply, a nod of his head set to mirror the ones he had given previous. The two adults had mentioned what he presumed to be herds, but the filly had yet to speak up about where she was from. Perhaps she was a mere wanderer like himself, a concept he was less than comfortable with but figured that it was merely tradition that caused such thoughts.

Even so, he returned his attention back to the spotted youngster. Blinking slowly, ‘brows furrowed in thought, a rumble of thought rattled through his expansive chest. “Young Cypress, sate an old man’s curiosity. Where are you from, and why is a youngblood like yourself alone? Are you born of this land, or elsewhere?” He wanted to reassure her that right at that very moment there was nothing to be fearful about, considering that moments ago she seemed to be concealing a very real fear of what might leap from the shadows. But somehow it didn’t seem appropriate, and so he bit his tongue and merely made an effort to keep an eye on her for the time being.

It was the voice of Lena and the joyful movement of her companion caught his attention and he watched as the delicate fox danced in and out of his limited field of vision. Back in his homeland, companions were reserved for the most high-bearing of society. The sovereign family all had birds, constant eyes in the sky – there to look where their owners could not. While their regency counterparts had small mammals, similar to the kitsune but also very different. And far more feral.

He considered the offer put forward by the mare for a moment, running his tongue around the inside of his front teeth in thought before licking those dry, ragged lips to reply. “Your home does sound desirable , Lena – as does the notion of your Foothills, Ciceron,” he said, looking from unicorn to horse. “However, I come from a land where war was it’s lifeblood and I seek a life away from that. If you know them, I would wish to know of your lands views of such.” His voice rumbled, head shaking vaguely in thought. “Do your leaders seek out conflict? Am I likely to walk into a warzone? Understand that I am willing to fight, but I am tired of it.”

[ooc: sorry for the wait, i've been stupidly busy :/]