I didn't fly to Helovia's Heart. No indeed not. With my luck I would probably try to land and end up skidding over the edge and take a nose dive into a sea of hot lava and melt into a puddle of black and gold goo. Okay, okay, you're right. I'd just catch on fire and be incinerated. Melting into goo just sounded a little less painful, cut me a little bit of slack. It was just another one of my little mini adventures while I Ros was away doing whatever it was she did when she was gone- probably playing some kind of mean pranks on someone. I was hoping for something worth while and was very pleased when I found the opening in the ground that was big enough for me to fit.

Someone a little wiser than me might have been scared of what might be hiding down there. Some kind of huge bear that ate horses for lunch, or a giant snake that would squeeze you until your eyes popped out of your head. Not me, though. I was curious, not scared, and my curiosity was what drove me down the hole in the ground. The ground was wet and pretty slippery, so I slid down most of the way, but when my hooves found purchase I strolled on through like I owned the place. Okay, maybe I didn't 'stroll' as much as I wandered and looked around with wide eyes.

I had never been in a cave before, so the things hanging from the ceiling and the things sticking up from the ground were really curious, but the ones on the ceiling were kinda scary. I had the very vivid mental image of one of them falling and stabbing my wing and pinning me to the ground. I'd have to chew my own wing off just to get out of there. I shuddered and pulled my wings closer as I continued to wander aimlessly through the cave system.

Somewhere in the cave I heard a grunt, which made me stop in my wandering. My ears tilted forward and my head lifted a little higher. "Hello?" My voice came out a lot smaller and weaker than I had intended it to, but then again that mental image of those rock spikes falling from the sky were really vivid. I didn't want to be too loud and disturb them. No, they needed to stay where they were.

I listened to my voice as it echoed through the underground cave that I had found, my ears erect and my body so tense that my muscles actually started to ache. I could hear hoofsteps moving toward me and in the dim lighting I could just make out the shape of someone much bigger than I was and, of course, I wished that I had Ros here with me at that point. How was I supposed to know if whoever it was that was approaching wasn't some carnivorous underground cave horse? If I could have done so without hurting myself I would have kicked my own ass for speaking and drawing him in closer.

He stopped and I breathed out, realizing at that point that I had been holding my breath because I was scared. I could admit it. I wasn't too proud. But now I could see him and I examined his face, his mouth mainly, and didn't see any sharp fangs sticking out of it and when he spoke I didn't see any sharp teeth hiding behind those dark lips. I flicked my tail against my legs and shifted my weight so I could take a step back. I tried to be subtle about it, but I don't think that I was completely.

Oh well.

"Hello." I said again and only grew more annoyed with myself that my voice still sounded weak. I cleared my throat softly and tried again. "Hello." That was better, I didn't sound like a puny little scared filly. "I'm Ranjiri ... Who are you?" I wanted to ask if he knew what the place we were in was, but then I thought better of it. Why ask a question that would make him know that I didn't know where I was? If he had any thoughts about hurting me wasn't it better if he thought that I knew where to run and hide?

On another note, by this point I knew why Momma always looked a little tired. It was hard work being suspicious. I much rather being friends with everyone.

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