Ashamin's innocence was, for a time, a boon to him. The golden stallion before him was a mystery and a surprise, but the offering of friendship was not one Ashamin took lightly. Whether Thranduil meant the moniker honestly, Ashamin did not know, but being who he was he was more than willing to trust that this stallion, strange as he was, wouldn't lie.

A flaw, perhaps, and a negative in the long run, but for the moment, it gave the young buck strength. He straightened his posture instantly, and took an emboldened step closer to the deer with a faint smile on his patchwork lips.

His tail waved behind him and he thought of the kitsune at Lena's side, and how she would have perhaps jumped to play with the tuft at the end of his white snake. Was this creature the same? No, he didn't expect so--the deer seemed to carry more solemnity than Imogen had. The gold stallion's introduction query interrupted him; Ashamin's face bolted up and the large dishes he bore for ears swiveled and perked.

He would have been nervous, and it was true that the stranger's silent and surprising approach had shocked him, but he was among friends, now, and there was a certain comfort in that. He lifted his lips in a faint nicker as premable to his reply.

"Yes, I am new... my name is Ashamin," he proffered, turning quickly back from the golden majesty and back to the deer before him. There was an intensity in those eyes that he appreciated--a sort of wild comfort in them he felt he remembered from somewhere, or maybe longed for.

Did it make him think of the deer in the valley, where he had been born? Perhaps. It had been only the deer who had stood with him (company in some way, even as they maintained their distance) at the site of his father's death. Now, another one stood before him.

"Haldir." He said the name with care, letting it roll off of his tongue gently. "He is your companion."

It was a question veiled as statement--he could not be sure, but he sensed the same connection he had seen with Lena and Imogen and, if he was correct, thought he might only prove he had the faintest sense of knowledge.

"Lena brought me here," he continued, his thoughts jumbled and spoken aloud with a shaky sort of confidence reserved for new friends (as if he was even familiar with the concept of having them) "She told me about the bond."

His eyes wandered over the expanse of white before settling slowly back on the other--Thranduil. "It is," he said belatedly, his comments perpetually out of order in their awkwardness, "A pleasure to meet you, Thranduil."

In his mind, he thought instead of the stallion's name a simple word: friend.


[[Thranduil, SO sorry for the wait, I've been swamped and I've started writing this post more times than I can count but never liked it, blach. I'm running in between classes but had a burst of muse so I wanted to get this to you, sorry if it is rushed feeling. ASHAMIN TAKES WORDS AT FACE VALUE SO THEY'RE FRIENDS FOR LIFE NOW DEAL WITH IT.]]

Ashamin