”Well met, Alina Josephina.”

Hearing someone utter her complete name sounded strange to the dove. Everybody she’d met so far had just assumed it was alright to call her by her first name. Not that she minded, not at all, but she wasn’t really used to the lack of formality in Helovia. She had been only a yearling when she left Rama; her birth land, and so she hadn’t quite adopted all the nuances to the language used there, but she was still accustomed to a more formal way of speech than what was used here in her new home. Because of this she was pleasantly surprised by Megaera’s words and a warm smile quickly replaced the surprise in her pale face. ”You may call me Alina if you like.” she said because offering a nickname was a sign of friendship in Rama.

”I have met Africa yes. She is a lovely mare; so caring and kind!” she said then as Megaera seemed to drift away in thoughts. Tilting her head slightly and flicking her ears Alina awaited her herd sister's return to the present. When she did come back it was obvious that she wasn’t keen on speaking about her former home and Alina understood her. She guessed that most immigrants were either running from something or running to find something better. She knew she had done both.

In a graceful movement the dove reached for the other mare’s withers. Softly, like a flutter of a butterfly’s wings, Alina touched her pink muzzle to Megaera’s bay skin to give her comfort or at least show her that she understood. It was just a brief moment of contact; she remembered all too well what had happened last time she tried to comfort another. But at least Megaera was a sister of the Throat which should make her safe to touch. Still Alina felt a bit wary.

Megaera spoke again, Alina liked her voice; it seemed to be the voice of a youth as much as the voice of a seasoned, wise mare. The cremello girl was quite sure that Megaera had far more life-experience than her - even though they didn’t seem to differ much in age.

Looking back at the flames that lit up the night in unison with the stars Alina answered Megaera’s question with little enlightenment: ”Too be honest I do not know, Megaera. I believe there must be some sort of magic to this fire, because if it isn’t Africa would need to be gathering fuel for it every waken hour.”

Alina fell quiet for a second and considered again how close in age she and Megaera seemed to be. Maybe the mare had some answers to the strange feeling she had had lately? Slowly turning her head to the bay she decided to at least ask.

”I don’t know if this is considered a too intimate question, but my body has been behaving rather strangely since middle of Tallsun and since you are roughly my age maybe you know what it is? I seem to recall something one of my mothers told me about coming of age, but I don’t really remember what it meant. I mean my heart races and I get all hot when I see some horses, sometimes I even get lightheaded and a feel a... well my…” she blushed and cut herself short, regretting that she’d brought the subject up. She couldn’t go around asking recently made acquaintances about matters this private, what was she thinking?!

Megaera would probably be confused by “one of my mothers”, but Alina totally forgot to explain herself; she was too busy wishing she hadn’t brought up the embarrassing subject.