A slender mare stepped lightly towards a gleaming stream. Her white socks were dusted with dirt and mud. She bent down, dipping her light brown muzzle into the flowing water. For a moment, the unicorn just let the cool water brush against her. She then began to practically inhale the water; soothing her parched throat after days of traveling.
The mare had a sleek dark bay coat. Faint dapples covered her back. If the sunlight hadn't been shining down on her, some might think her to be a plain black mare. She had a traditional, tasseled unicorn tail. Her long, spiraled white horn appeared as she raised her head. Large drops of water fell from the tip, and the excess water ran down it, cooling her forehead as it dribbled down her face. She snorted and flicked her tail. The dark mare shook her head roughly, causing her usually smooth black mane to become ruffled and messy. Blue flowers had been woven into it, and stayed as her mane settled back into place. The mare's violet eyes were shining.
What a lovely forest this is, she thought, looking around contentedly. Still, an air of curiosity hung over the mare. She held her head up higher, and decided to see if she were truly alone. "Hello?" she called out. She glanced around, waiting to see if anyone would care to answer her.
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The young stallion, Breeze, had been seeking refuge in the shadows of the Threshold; refuge from the heat at the Dragon’s Throat. He’d come to dislike his new herdland quite a bit now and he couldn’t for the life of him understand how so many pegasi could prefer to reside in a desert when the land held deep forests and open, grassy fields.
Breeze had flown through the night, his wings had carried him back the same way he’d come with lady Cassiopeia, two months ago, and then he’d spend the early morning resting in some scrubs. His rest was disturbed by a call. It was a mare’s voice and a mare’s scent that caressed his senses and slowly he heaved his muscular body from the ground.
As it was daylight the colts true colors were showing; a pale creamy body with pristine white mane and tail. Had it been night he would have appeared silver and little stars would have been visible on his barn owl wings and along his back. But those stars were now almost invisible against his creamy hide.
He looked quite a bit older than he was and in the last couple of weeks his confidence had grown. Simply he’d gone from foal to young adult since he came to Helovia, but he was still a bit shy.
Breeze picked his way through the forest and soon enough he saw her. She was a lovely bay dapple mare. But she was a unicorn and as Breeze saw her horn he stopped. He had a slight, irrational fear for sharp things and that made him wary of unicorns. Staying a few feet from her he spoke: "Good day miss. I am Breeze. Breeze of the…" he broke off, did it really matter where he came from when he was thinking of leaving the herd? "On the other hand, it’s not important where I come from. What a matter is where you come from, miss, have you traveled far?"
He smiled politely, but he kept an eye on that horn of hers.
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The dark mare listened for a few moments. Time slowly ticked by. Perhaps I am alone after all, she thought, though highly doubted it. The forest was brimming with other life; birds sang softly in the trees, squirrels scurried along the ground for nuts, and butterflies drifted past peacefully. All the unicorn wanted was to see another unicorn, equine, or pegasus. She was about to give up when a voice broke through her thoughts. "Good day, miss. I am Breeze. Breeze of the…" The silence returned, excluding the lovely birdsong. The dark bay turned towards the voice, swinging her long horn as she did so. He was a young stallion. Her eyes landed on his, but his seemed to be aiming up slightly. At her horn? The mare tipped her head to one side. She opened her mouth to reply, but didn’t get a chance to say a single word, for the stallion was not finished. “On the other hand, it’s not important where I come from. What a matter is where you come from, miss, have you traveled far?" He flashed her a smile.
The mare dipped her head to him. “Greetings, Breeze. My name is Lumina. To answer your question…” She paused. Where had she come from? All Lumina knew was that her legs were aching from what seemed like a lifetime of walking. She had seen many lands. Lumina pawed lightly at the ground. “Quite honestly, I’m not sure. I’ve been wandering from place to place for as long as I can remember, always without a destination. Day blurs into night, night blurs into day... Walk, walk, walk. Oh, but the sights I have seen!" For a moment, Lumina's eyes clouded with memories. They soon changed to pain. "I’ve greatly missed the interaction with others, though. I’m very thankful that you have answered my call. I was afraid that if I went another day without seeing someone, I would die! Do you happen to know where we are now?”
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Breeze flinched when she wavered her horn about, but he didn’t move away. The dark bay mare seemed friendly enough to not deliberately cut him and the space between them was big enough so any unintentional cutting would not be able to occur. Still the irrational fear gnawed in the back of his mind. He had no explanation of it, it had just always been there.
The young buck nodded politely as Lumina spoke her name. "A pleasure to meet you Lady Lumina." he said and dared to move in a little bit closer to her. They were quite similar in height, but Breeze looked bigger with his large owl wings folded on his back. The youngster was also still growing and when fully grown he would stand quite a bit taller than Lumina.
She asked about where they were and Breeze tried to remember everything he knew about Helovia. The first thing he thought about was the magic that some in this land possessed… he knew little about that, but maybe the mare wanted to know anyway.
"We’re in Helovia." he told her. "And here some horses have abilities that are so strange I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve heard them call it magic, but I don’t know so much about it. They have gods too, I actually met one of them once." Breeze shivered a bit when he recalled the thundering voice of the Earth God.
"There are also several herds. I’ve only been in one of the herdlands and I don’t know much of the geography of Helovia so I don’t know the way to the other ones. But if you want I can show you the way to Dragon’s Throat. It’s warm there so it’s a good place to stay when Frostfall comes." He smiled, this was what Lady Cassiopeia had offered him, so he guessed it was his duty to do the same.
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Lumina tipped her head to one side. Helovia, she repeated in her mind. Magic. Gods. She tested each new concept silently, wishing she could automatically learn more without having to ask seemingly dumb questions. Lumina thought back to what Breeze had said- how magic was really just strange abilities. She looked at his wings curiously, and marveled at their beauty. "Your wings," she voiced, "they're incredible. You can fly using them, yes? Would that be considered 'magic'? It's certainly a strange ability to posses. I can't do anything with my horn. I'm afraid it's only there for show." She paused for a moment, almost forgetting the rest of what Breeze told her.
When she finally remembered, her thoughts began shifting again. Would she even do well in a herd? Lumina had missed talking to other horses, but she would miss traveling if she ever stopped. Lumina's ear twitched indecisively. The herd sounded very nice, as was this stallion, but actually joining them? That was something Lumina had not ever considered doing. Very rarely had she ever thought about herds at all. But the way he worded it made it seem to good to refuse. Lumina blinked once. Maybe she should try it, and see how it was. Lumina nodded slightly, and composed herself. She looked back at Breeze.
"Dragon's Throat... That sounds rather interesting. It is very kind of you to offer to take me there. If you're sure it isn't too much trouble, I would enjoy being shown to that herd."
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She was very pleasant, this mare, and Breeze had almost forgot his fear of her pointy horn. Her voice was beautiful and almost soothing to him. But he felt a little bit as if she was in her own little world. She seem to think long and carefully about what he’d told her and when she did so her gaze was distant and he felt he shouldn’t bother to disturb her thoughts. Nonetheless he felt quite content standing there listening to the birds sing and watching the seasons last dragonflies buzz around.
Suddenly he caught himself doing the same thing as Lumina; getting stuck in his own head. He shook his body, unfurled his wings a bit and that was when she asked him about the appendages. ”Would that be considered ‘magic’? It's certainly a strange ability to posses.”
Breeze glanced at his creamy wings and their silver colored little flecks. He was still and quiet for a bit, pondering the last thing she’d said, about her horn. Oh, he could name several unpleasant things she could do with her horn, but like she he wouldn’t call it magic neither would he consider his ability to fly magic. His mother had also been able to fly and Lady Cassiopeia too as was the majority of all pegasi and surely they all couldn’t have been created by magic. Could they? Pushing his confusion from his mind he then smiled towards Lumina and answered: "There are a lot of other pegasi and most of us can fly, I don’t think we’re more special than unicorns really." here he dared to nudge her on her dark shoulder and it hit him, as his soft muzzle met her hide, that this was the first time he’d touched another horse since his father’s last embrace before the storm parted them. Luckily he was distracted from the thoughts of his parents by Luminas voice. He nodded at her.
"Come!" he smiled and turned southward. "I’ll run with you!"
[Ooc; I'll start another thread in the Throat ;D]
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