Mesec’s attention was torn away from the giant tree by the call of a bird, but when he turned his head he saw not just an ordinary bird, but a zephyr taking flight away from a pale mare that was approaching him. Though he relaxed at the sight of the smile - he tensed at her cautious words. Had they met before? There was something in her that reminded her of someone but he did not know who - and her face did not feel directly familiar. So he responded just as cautiously as she had spoken - thinking it over carefully and hoping that he was not wrong in his memory. “No… I don’t believe so.”

Mesec did not realize it, probably would never realize it, but the reason why the pale mare before him seemed so familiar was because he had once spent a day and night sitting next to the corpse of her dead daughter, the young victim of his mother, when they had all been chasing a murderer. He hadn’t known the name of the girl, had never seen her before, but he had wanted to keep her company - so she might not be alone in death for at least part of the journey. A silly thought, perhaps, depending on what one believes about death but the sight of her body had shaken the young demigod and he had not been able to move from her side for quite some time.

As was his way, although Mesec was sure that he did not know this mare he did worry over where she might have seen him. Had she been among those that gathered at the site of Vesta’s corpse, where the demi-gods had stood with their parents? Or did she know of his mother and simply recognize her in him? There was his father, too, but it was so rare that Mesec was compared to d’Artagnan that it was not a conclusion he usually jumped to. When one of your parents was a god, it was easy to assume that was the focal parent.

Mesec shifted in his stance slightly before forcing himself to calm down. She had spoken kindly not accusingly, he needed to remember that having a familiar face might not be a bad thing. A small smile appeared as his silver eyes looked back at her, turning his body now to more properly face her and dipping his head politely in greeting. “My name’s Mesec, I’m new to the Throat. It’s nice to meet you.” Officially, anyway, if they had crossed paths before in the past.

A thought came to him then as he remembered the search he had been on moments ago, eager to move on from the uncomfortable feeling of being recognized - even faintly. “Do you by any chance know Cera? I've been looking for him and can't seem to find him anywhere.” Only after he spoke did he worry that it sounded as though he were trying to brush off her company - when that certainly was not the case! Just a change of topics and it happened to be the closest one.

@[Sohalia]