Already she could feel the difference radiating against her combined with the heat writhing beneath glossy, smooth ebony black- still purer in hue than those grim starless nights in the bleakest winter. He seemed not to be the bumbling creature he had been during their first meeting, collapsed and forlorn, a shadow of the potential pooling behind misunderstood mahogany eyes. With cool air rushing between their bodies, ravaging the emptiness there, she felt a bitter loneliness and wanted in that moment to press herself nearer, closer. She wanted to feel comfort from his warmth, and lean against the strength that he seemed so suddenly to have adopted- he lacked that empathetic quality though that she had revelled in months before; seemed to be just the stoic flicker of companionship.

Windwalker confirmed her theory readily, with a deep breath, that something in the atmosphere had changed- that the acidic stench which seemed so incessantly to guide the wraiths had faded. Her pale gaze darted towards him as he broke the shackles binding him in place and stepped ahead, head still raised- she mused, like a soldier patrolling the edge of his home range, gloriously alert and emanating courage that she could never hope to understand. She admired him privately then, in-between the chary fidget of her nervous core and search of her shimmering eyes. He answered the plea, turning again to meet her waiting gaze, and Africa glanced downward- almost shameful that she should have made such a suggestion when the world above seemed to be healing.

Any trace of that burning insecurity, the flailing emotion that had driven like a cruel wedge between them seemed, to have vanished. The confidence left over, intrigued the dappled mare.

"The caves were never a comfort." She answered easily, shrugging a little through a small smile. "We should return to the caves." Even while death seemed to plague Helovia, the young Pegasus had felt trapped, suffocated- claustrophobic. Even though she had dwelt beneath the earth once before (when her mind had been at its sickest point), the period of darkness just now had felt like perhaps the vast open sky might feel to a fish. More than anything Africa craved the hot season, Tallsun- the blaring sun and blistering desert climate. "We should tell those sheltering still though, that perhaps the sickness is passed." For a moment her concentration lapsed and wiry whiskers adorning her velvet soft maw reached to touch him. His scent was thick and intoxicating as she drew it deeply into expanding lungs, and her eyes closed to savour the seconds should he flinch and recoil.

@[Windwalker]