The weather had finally begun to break. Joyously Jaydan leapt to the skies, his wings flexing with renewed energy. For too long he'd been ground bound, the sun feeling all the more severe in the skyways, although it had been a perfect excuse to know his herd's terrain better by hoof and to work on strength training in the sands.

Now though, he needed to fly.

Wind tousled against his mane, and though it still pressed warmth against his hide, it did not give the feeling of flames crawling amongst his hairs. "All hail Orangemoon!" He laughed to himself, body twisting and tilting in the air. Carefree and off scout duty for the rest of the afternoon, Jaydan decided to let the winds carry him at their will. It offered him a brief moment of true happiness, and just for a day, he did fly away from all his hurt, all his sorrow. He closed his eyes and felt nothing but the world driving around him.

Eyelashes fluttered as Jaydan opened his eyes, blue gaze not surprised to find the corpse of trees called the Threshold. Although he would have preferred to have 'awoken' to a less duty-bound area, he figured since he was already here he might as well glance around, he could always travel to the Meadow or the Fields afterwards. Nodding in approval to his own plan, Jaydan turned sharply on his right wing and began to wheel down in tight circles. The world rose up to meet him and he stretched his forelegs out, grappling for a tree branch.

His body sent the dried, thirsty boughs waving unsteadily under him. They creaked and groaned and threatened to splinter, but feeling reckless Jaydan tested their strength. He was more at home in trees than the dry desert of the Throat anyway. The boughs held him, for now. Wings buffeted the air as he gathered his balance on the unsteady limb, leaves whispering as they slapped against one another. Many shook loose - too many for such an early rise of the Orangemoon. Just more testament to the ravages of the sun and his temper this Tallsun. Jaydan shook his head, lamenting the losses, though he did feel anger towards the god. These things were too above such a simple warrior, he would leave them for the more spiritual of his herd.

Luckily there were too mares below ready to snatch his attention from such deep thoughts. He peered down at them with a curious eye, a broad grin stretching his lips as he laughed loudly. He hadn't been aware there'd been onlookers to his surely strange option of a perch and likely ungraceful landing upon it. How foolish they surely thought him! Like a colt he took glee in this showmanship and ridiculousness, the happiness of the season change infecting every inch of his being today.

"Hello!" he crowed to them, giggles subsiding as he took to assessing them in a leisurely way.

It was a curious pair he met, he soon realized, and a sad pair at that. One mare was blubbering in tears, though it didn't stop her from having good manners and introducing herself, which brought a slight smile to the gelding's face. He didn't know what had happened, but he always appreciated manners and kindness.

With a creak from the tree and a few flaps of his wings Jaydan landed on the ground beside them. "Hurt?" he queried, his voice high with the question, his nose tilting in concern as he glanced between them. Sunchaser, as she was called, spoke of the Foothills, to which Jaydan nodded. "Foothills flock good, healer help."

Forgetting his own manners he realized, he bobbed his head at them, lips easily forming his name while so many other words proved difficult to translate from his native tongue. "Am Jaydan, Warrior of Dragon's Throat flock. I fly to Foothills, keep Sunchaser and Chance safe?" He finished his words with an offer to protect them on the trip from the Threshold to the Foothills. It would be no trouble for him on such a carefree day, and he'd never seen the Foothills before.

These mares, or perhaps it was all mares, were very forthright with their thoughts and their troubles. It through Jaydan aback some, and made him shuffle his hooves with discomfort. He was never a good type for empathy or lending a shoulder to cry on. Was this how Cysaro felt when he blathered all his heartaches to him? Probably. The thought made Jaydan smile, which is a rare sight these days, and likely odd considering his current position and conversation.

Ears tilted back in uncertainty, wings shifting in another anxious gesture - they wanted to fly and get out of this situation he'd found himself landed in. "Fledgling?" Jaydan asked, his voice cautiously curious, even hopeful. Young was always a good sign in his mind, but this was perhaps because he did not know the word she used, 'raped'. He thought better than asking for an explanation, perhaps a different time or from a different mouth. It was not often he found words in the high speech he hadn't heard before, but this one didn't crop up in conversation often. She seemed upset though, which bothered him. Was the foal painful? He always thought they would be and that maybe that was why mares were always as liable to grumpy as they were happy.

The other mare, Sunchaser, regarded him then with a welcoming smile but confusing words. She intended to leave? What would possess her to break away from their group when they all had the same destination? If she needed to hurry that was fine with the jay, he'd hoped they'd already be walking by now. "Wait!" he called to her, wings flaring suddenly in his haste to get her attention. He did not truly know the way, and was marginally terrified of being left along with the sobbing mare in foal who was raped and whom he doubted he could console.

"All go?" Jaydan suggested, head bobbing enthusiastically.

[I figure we can end this here or wrap it up and start a thread in the Foothills? Also for future reference, it usually makes more sense timeline wise to not have things change in the middle of a thread. For instance Sunchaser was accepted into the Foothills, true, but her acceptance was in another thread, so a different time than the one this thread occurred in. So it's very strange to have Sunchaser suddenly be accepted, or know information she couldn't know in this thread and this time, because of that. You're more than welcome to have multiple threads at once, but especially with joining/accepting threads it's good to take it slow until you know what's fully happening :P]