| It is not until a second child has joined your little circle that the beast, who has risen at the scaly-winged’s “hello” begins to speak. Immediately, you notice that he has a funny, almost conciliatory way of talking. To you, his voice seems hollow and his tone distant, as if he speaks with the empty politeness of a servant. Gus he calls himself, but you turn the foreign name over in your head thoughtfully, wondering if he originates from anywhere you’re familiar with. “Enchantée, Monsieur Baudelaire,” you murmur in your mother tongue, trying to catch his eye for any hint of recognition. The greeting slips past your lips with the correct lilt of your French accent, but the words feel rusty in your throat, and you realize how long it has been since you have used them. You do not offer your own name, though the other three have given theirs. If the charming Monsieur Baudelaire would like to know, he may ask you himself. You will gladly give it to him then, no sooner and no later.
The first filly (Semira, as she has introduced herself) inquires what brings the stag to Helovia, and you tilt your head curiously, awaiting the answer as well. Is he a convict, or an exiled king? An escaped slave or a defeated lover? Or is he merely prone to wanderlust, as it seems so many stallions are apt to be? Briefly, you wonder if he will discuss his past at all. You wouldn’t be surprised if he was a bit cagey—after all, you wouldn’t initiate storytime with a group of strangers, especially two just out of infancy.
As you look around the circle, surveying the little girls (what was the other one’s name? Sick-something?) and the young stud, it occurs to you that Semira is from the World’s Edge, which you have briefly visited, and the other is from the Dragon’s Somewhere. You make a mental note to investigate these herdlands—having trekked into the wilds just after arriving in Helovia, you know very little about herd life in this place, and you feel that it is to your disadvantage. After all, it will be rather difficult to play with this puzzle if you don’t have all of the pieces.
@[Sikeax]
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