He was too focused on finding his footing to pay any heed to what was going on at ground level. With daredevil tenacity the lithe foal dragged himself from ledge to pillar to another ledge, higher and higher until he felt his stomach tickle from a mixture of terror and delight as he throw a look downwards. If he fell from here... But there was no way he would fall. How many times had he been standing over even greater depths, balancing on the edge of a cliff with nothing but clouds and treetops to break his fall should he fail, all while a determined shadow approached from behind to push him over the edge... Shadow had been hard when it came to flight. It was almost as if she enjoyed the terror her frail son expressed over being bullied to take the first leap (and the second, and third, and fifth), a small revenge against an innocent for having come to existence against her will.

Yet, despite his fear of falling, the sensation he got when the wind began to carry and the outstretched wings cut through air like a knife through silk was indescribable. Kari craved it, missed it every time he was unable to feel it and sought out every chance to keep practicing. One day he would be able to take off without a rock to jump from, one day the sky would be his to claim... One day.

But for now, the simple prospect of gliding down from the top of this terraced wall was enough to take away the worst of the itch. He panted slightly as he reached the very topmost ledge, a small crack that was just barely wide enough to let him stand on it. Cloven hooves scraped over the glassy surface as Kari carefully turned around, light-headed and daunted as he looked out over the tall room... and spotted a figure near the opening. This was unexpected, he had thought himself alone. It didn't seem like a person he'd ever met before either (which might be a good thing because they would most likely have tried to stop him from this endeavor) and it made the colt a bit nervous to think that someone beside his mom would see him fly.

Masking his hesitance with childish cockiness the slender fawn puffed out his chest and spread the wings wide, eying the pale, muscular form of the horse below for a reaction as he called out to them - him?

"Hey mister, watch this!" With a deep breath he gathered himself and kicked off from the ledge and pulled the legs up tight towards the barrel, wings outstretched and adjusting tentatively to try and catch the wind. His belly gave a horrible lurch as the first few feet turned into a straight drop, but just as he thought that things had gone wrong somehow... the speed dropped and he felt himself being carried forward, gliding down towards the ground in a (slightly wobbly and not very) graceful arch.

Tripping slightly as he stretched the feet out to land, Kari wobbled and skid and broke into a halt in front of the stranger, with heaving chest and legs sprawled wide around him. The tail puffed up in horror at the prospect of falling on his nose in front of this person... he looked up carefully, sneaking glances at the rippling muscles, the sleek ivory coat and sparse coating of black spots - and began to grin, carefully at first but with growing triumph as he realized that he'd done it.

"Ha!" he exclaimed and leaped into the air and laughed, loud and cheerful before he made a victory lap around the cave room laced with bucks and frolicking.

"Did you see that? I bet you couldn't have done that, could you!? " He skidded into a halt before the grown stallion and puffed up the chest as he looked for a reaction, expression bright and brimming with new confidence.
"I'm Kari, who are you? Wanna see me do it again?!"