Mother wandered a lot. Every now and then the black mare simply left and went off somewhere, rarely giving a reason why. Sometimes Erthë was left behind with her father, but it also happened that she was brought along when the trip was expected to take a while. Slowly but surely the world expanded beneath her feet. Mile after mile was added to the borders of her perception, time and time again her views on what was normal, right and familiar forced to change. From knowing nothing but the vast, windswept fields of the northern steppe they had traveled east, over high mountains and steep vales, into deep forests and across rivers filled to the brim with rushing water. They climbed and balanced on steep rock ledges, ran as fast as they could across wide-stretched fields painted in vivid spring colors, and Erthë swam for the first time in an ice cold pool lined with red rocks with Shadow watching over her, laughing to the rhythm of the daughter's clattering teeth.

The further south they went the warmer it became. The cold-blooded filly quickly discovered that she very much preferred the icy expanse in the north. She was not fond of sweating, and when the sun raised the temperature to twice that of your own towards the peak of the day it was pretty much all you did.

But she did like the vivid colors. The red of the rocks, the bright spring green grass that hid flowers so bright they made her eyes water, the vast blue arch of the sky revolving high above her head... And she loved the rain that fell at night, treasured each precious droplet that tinkled its mournful melody against leaf and branch, rock and stream and pattered against her back. Some times after a shower had passed her coat was covered in frost where the water had frozen. When the sun returned it vaporized, spreading a thin, fine mist into the air along with her clouding breath.

Ah, and the stars. She never knew them to be so big and bright, or the moon so close. If only she had been able to fly, maybe she could reach out and touch them.

It wasn't only fun and games though. Shadow was careful and took few risks, but they still had nasty encounters with predators. Erthë particularly remembered the meeting with the pack of timber wolves in the deep forests, their gleaming eyes as they circled and watched, weighing the strength of the mare and the cost of a meal against the treat of a feast... They had been lucky to escape that time.

Sometimes it grew downright dull too. After walking through the same unchanging landscape for several days even a very patient foal grew restless, and Erthë's was mercurial, as fleeting as summer shudders.

"Don't go too far" the shadow mare reminded absently as the filly wandered off, her focus on everything but the grass on the ground. How could her mother eat so much all the time?

"No mom" she replied automatically - but what point was there in adventures if your mother remained within shouting distance? Still, Erthë really did intend to be obedient when she skipped off into the tall, swaying grasses. She just wanted to move around, dance a little, flap her wings and feel the muscles in her shoulders develop from day to day.

She definitely didn't count on there to be a hole in the ground. When her cloves suddenly met with nothing but air she gave off a little squeak and tumbled down into darkness, rolling and skidding down the steep path until she landed unceremoniously in a pile at the bottom. For the longest time she simply lay there, dizzy and shocked and terrified to discover that something was broken. When seconds, minutes, years probably, passed and no pain set in however, she began the process of untangling limbs and looked around, wide eyed and suddenly quite small.

It was dark. It was strange. Mother was nowhere to be seen and the blue spring sky had been replaced by a rough stone sealing. On one side the darkness deepened into pitch-black tunnels leading into the bowels of the earth, and on the other a red glow radiated both light and heat and turned a figure into a black, ominous looking silhouette. Almost, but not quite horselike, and the shadows it cast were long and threatening, wavering slightly back and forth.

Her lips began to tremble, out of shock or fear - she wasn't sure which.

The shadow startled, turned, and then it spoke. Did shadows usually do that? Misty green eyes were wide and clogged with unshed tears and leaking black tar, but though her heart beat fit to burst in the chest she forced herself to look closer at the figure. Come to think of it, wasn't it actually more brown than black? And there were lighter patches, tinted with orange and black but probably white originally... A shadow with colors? Granted, she had seen many things that didn't make sense in her short life, but nothing as weird as this.

The shadow introduced itself as Naerys. Suddenly becoming aware of her own graceless sprawling on the stone floor, the winged filly quickly got to her feet and gazed hesitantly between the Naerys and the sloping path she had fallen down. Should she answer, or just run?

Ah, but. She hadn't faced two gods in combat and survived only to become a coward. Picking up the pieces of her own fractured courage she wound the long tail tightly around a leg and nodded shyly, daring a slight step forward to get a better look at the dark figure.

"Yeah.. I mean, uhm... yes, I'm fine. Thank you. I'm Erthë." Geez girl, eloquent much. At least she managed to say her own name without stuttering this time. Not much of a victory, but it would have to do.

"Wh-what is this place?" Not much better, but at least the awe as she looked around was real. The place was huge, the ceiling disappearing up amidst thick shadows and the corners dim and obscure as the passages that trailed off to elsewhere. It was easy to forget herself and the stranger that was with her, but all the thought of shadows brought her back to reality with a snap, a swift jump backwards and the fierce, suspicious glare of one who had seen too much for their age.

"Hey, you're not actually a shadow, are you? Because if you're one of them Wolf God clones then... then... well I've dealt with you lot before and I'm not scared!"

Yet for all the confidence in her childishly shrill voice, both dainty cloves and sneaky glances had begun a swift search for something to use as a weapon. It wasn't that she was afraid or anything, but no matter how she looked at it the Naerys was much bigger than herself, and her stubby porcelain horns were clearly not intended for offensive use. The black claw bounced and jangled on its bronze chain around her neck as though to tempt her to use it, but Erthë ignored it. No way would she use that; the fang had probably tasted too much blood already.

She steeled herself for the worst and drew a long, slow breath, careful so that she would not trigger another coughing fit. This was definitely neither the time nor place to show weakness...

Erthë glared suspiciously at the girl for a few moments longer, then relaxed and gave her a radiant smile. The transformation from wary readiness to bubbling excitement was instantaneous. Perhaps it would have been better to keep suspecting a little while longer, but the dual horned girl was innocent and trusting so if someone said something, she saw no reason to disbelieve them.

"Oh, good!" she sighed, clearly relieved. "It would have been awful if you had been, they were horrible!"

Already curiosity was taking over from shock and fright. This was a completely new world to the girl and she absorbed every little detail with relish. Gaping as she came close enough to the quartz window to see what lay on the other side she let out a slow, awed 'woooow'.

"It's so cool" she breathed. "Where do those paths go? That sickness, it's nothing like this one, is it?"

Because the liquid that oozed from every orifice was decidedly black, and the coughs and sniffles and muffled sound in her ears was persistent and definitely something one would hide to get away from. Erthë kept a slight distance from the other girl, like mother had instructed, so that she wouldn't give the cooties to her too - though whether it worked was another question.

Now, she probably should have tried to climb back up the steep slope again. Mother would get worried before long, and she would get hungry and it looked like a difficult climb. But outside was boring compared to this hidden world, and she was dying to explore.

"Hey, want to play something?" she asked, practically bouncing where she stood. What were bruises and rattling coughs when there was another girl there, almost her age and definitely fun looking?

"Yeah, it was just, I only saw a shadow and you looked like you were kinda glowing with all that light and stuff, and those wolf clones were dark and glowwy too."

She replied rather distractedly, already focusing more on the surroundings than on talking. Peeking curiously down each path in turn, Erthë hummed and nodded as Naerys explained about the rooms on the other end, feet itching to explore. The long, slender tail slithered excitedly around the hocks as she tripped about, mother forgotten for this amazing new place and the friend she'd found; a friend that knew a lot more than Erthë did.

"Oh, that's good. I wouldn't want to catch that... also I hope you won't catch this, it's pretty icky too. The world looks strange with this goo in the eyes, things start to glow and stuff!"

All thought of sickness and monsters disappeared at the suggestion of the game however. With an excited squeal the pale hybrid skipped after Naerys down one of the path, as eager as she was fearless now that she had been careful and good like momma told her to be.

It was easily the most fun she'd had in weeks. Together they explored the many caverns and took it in turn to find treasures; glowing plants and flowers, interesting rocks and crevices and a whole room filled with what Erthë swore had to be diamonds, because they sparkled so prettily. Time went by much too quickly, and it wasn't until her stomach gave up an almighty growl that she realized how long she must have been down there in the caves.

"I think I need to go soon" she said, rather reluctantly interrupting the game. "Momma will be worried if I stay away much longer, and she nags so much when she's upset. What about you? Are you staying here or do you want to go together?"

Eying their pile of treasures longingly, she dropped the last glimmering rock onto it and eyed Naerys, waiting to hear her reply before starting to walk back towards the first cave and the way out.