The heavy thud of hooves rippled across the small clearing, followed by the sweep of large wings giving one last powerful beat before they nestled neatly against the pegasus' dark pelt. Too long it had been since her hooves had touched familiar soil, too long she had laid her oddly coloured eyes on what she called home.

      When she had left, she had no purpose than to just explore and to be free to as the wind was, the tender age of three, just a filly foal chasing the whirling winds as far north and south without a care in the world.

       Now she was eight and back with a purpose.
 
      All she had to do now to get her first hoof through the door, was navigate through the sprawling thickets of trees that went on for miles. Trees were a nightmare that answered to no one, her mane catching on every other low hanging branch and earning a bitter sounding snap from the large mare in response —spending more time detangling the cascade of black and orange waves than actually making headway. This would be much easier if I could find the space to fly, she thought to herself, casting a gaze up to the darkened thatch of green and brown obscuring the light; creating a canopy that any seasoned flyer would have trouble navigating, or maybe it was just her, she was far too used to open spaces. How Unicorns could be so comfortable in this was beyond her.

      Nephele was loathe to admit she was utterly lost, and grounded — what a great way to begin her long campaign to greatness, recognition and hopefully ascension.

      Crunching wood beneath her iron hard hooves, she finally pulled her mane free of the latest oak to snare her tangle prone locks, giving the trunk a rather childish kick as she turned and broke into a light trot in what she assumed was the right direction. "What a horrible place," she muttered to herself, jumping a fallen tree and winding around a particularly large rock, "I'll be glad to see the back end of it." If I manage to find the end of it first.

      Nephele found herself slowing when she found herself closing in on a clearing, the oaks still refusing to relinquish enough space for her to simply fly, but at least she had space to breath and maybe come up with a plan; she didn't want to become that mare who got lost and ran around in circles through the threshold. Whipping her tail in an irritated fashion, mindful to make sure it didn't end up getting tangled on a nearby bush, she turned her attention back to the numerous small pockets of pathways she could take.

      "Which one?" She mused to herself out loud while she turned in a semi-circle, her frustration beginning to thread through her voice — Nephele had never been one blessed with patience, especially when it came to something that appeared to be simple. "This is why I prefer the sky, less hassle..."

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Notes;; first post!
 

      For a mare as tall as she, the underbrush and it's wealth of hidden worlds and secrets were a mere after thought. She stopped being interested in the ground beneath her when her wings finally allowed her to take her first few bumbling strides in a place her feet would not carry her swift and true. Crawling through the brushes, with thistles and burrs matted and tangled in fluffy strands which stuck up in odd angles was something for foals, the smallest of her equine counterparts and other small critters.

      The black pegasus let out a breathy snort, blue and gold orbs focusing on one path and then another, the indecision creasing her brow in fine wrinkles. Perhaps it would be better to just pick one and stick through it, it wouldn't be the first time — or the last, that the large mare had taken a shot in the dark and hoped it worked out. It was very much a core part of her personality, through thick and thin, the good and bad situations that often followed those shot-in-the-dark actions. However, this wasn't just any other time, this was suppose to be her grand entrance back to Helovia, the first hoofstep in her path to her bright future.

       Her thoughts, or rather, her indecision was brought to an abrupt halt as the sound of twigs snapping and small hooves thundered through the thicket. Any question as to who, or what it was didn't have time to register, a blur of white flicked with twigs and leaves broke into her line of vision followed by the young ones elated voice reached her ears. Nephele turned rather sharply to face the small hybrid as she skidded to a rather inelegant halt — the big mares mottled wings ruffled in reaction to the sudden surprise that had turned up.

      Mom.  She had thought she was her mother? The little filly clearly saw her own mistake in the unceremonious attempt to not knock into the larger of the two.

      Nephele had opened her mouth to speak to the small mass of white fur and feathers until the Hybrid opened her mouth first, and was met with rudeness. A frown now etched onto her features as she sized up the filly, her large 16.3hh frame dwarfed her in comparison. Slight and the colour of porcelain, with misty coloured emeralds for eyes, she looked just as fragile as her coat colour.

      "Are you always this rude to strangers?"

      Electing to ignore the fact she had been asked her name, Nephele turned once again to the task at hand, the swathes of black and ember coloured hair moving in the fluid motion and at a tail flick. Surely this little filly could find her way back to her mother now, turning her head so her bright blue eye could peer at the youngster before it became obscured by long tresses. Did children always so rude with irrelevant questions?

         "I haven't seen your mom. I've seen no one in the time I've been here in fact." There was a shortness to her tone, not bothering to try and hide it either. Nephele had never been particularly good with masking her exasperation and ill-temper when it came to socialising with other equines, her mother and her adoptive herd in her youth had believed she would grow out of it in favour of her mothers more gentle nature.

         She hadn't, instead she'd gotten more of her sire's personality than Urania had initially bargained for.

         The other was merely a distraction to her, and rather than spend another minute and face a barrage of questions from the youngster, she picked the pathway to the east of her and began walking. No doubt her mother was close by and would pick her up, leaving her alone was enough to tell Nephele the place was somewhat safe for foals to wander.

         Please let this be the way she silently hoped, taking caution not to let the worry work its way onto her strong features.

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Notes;; fiend! calling her an old bag!
 

     The trails and thickets were suffocating, to say the very least. So grand were the oaks in their branches, and so desperate were the vines and the shrubs to bask in the suns life giving glow, they left little room for movement and mishap. Should she stumble, she would quite easily be tangled by the sprawling vines and gnarled roots — no doubt she would be stuck until someone with more muscle and mass came along.

     Keeping her head low as to watch her step, but also keep her head raised just enough to avoid the waterfalls of mane from becoming adorned with all manner of debris, she moved slowly and decidedly. The little hybrid would not be much help, if she so chose to follow behind the much larger Pegasus, and Nephele was decidedly against relying on something so frail looking to find help in such a vast expanse of ever changing shades of green.

     Nephele hadn't had much chance to make headway from the clearing before another presence made itself known. Mismatched eyes lifted and followed the warm voice, and settled in a curious and somewhat wary gaze on the larger stallion. Not that she was particularly threatened by the muscled stallion draped in the very colours of primal earth itself, the rich buckskin mixing with bold markings, and a dusting of pristine pangare. It was simply because the life of a lone wanderer made you cautious and mistrusting of those that you did not know.

     It didn't help that he was the first equine she had to gaze up to in a long time, Nephele was very much used to being the tall one.

     "Yes, she certainly has a way with words." The onyx mare responded, casting her gaze once more towards the foal in question — the look on her face a watered down version of vexation. Even though she had taken her focus from the larger stallion, she kept him within her vision. "She seemed to think I was her mother at first glance."

     "Nephele." Giving her name in kind to Tembovu, a fitting name, it sounded powerful rolling off of the tongue. A powerful name for a powerful Stallion, no doubt. "Right now, I had only the thought to get out of here," Nephele replied, shifting in her place as to stop an offending branch poking her side, "Herdlands were the farthest thing from my mind." It was a half-truth, Herdland decisions would come once she was in a better position, not squared between the forest floor and ancient oaks. She didn't have much of an idea of which land would call to her either, or who would try and recruit her to their cause.
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Notes;; Please! Do go ahead and tag me in posts.
 

    If she had known that running into the little white filly would infect her, Nephele just might've turned tail and run at the very idea of becoming ill from Erthe. But she hadn't known, how could she? She had spent a great deal of time absent from the company of her kin and their counterparts, and then time beyond the borders. Inevitably she had put herself at risk and paid the price.

    Still, the symptoms wouldn't become apparent so quickly after contraction, and the Pegasus mare wouldn't be any the wiser unless someone informed her of the fact she was at risk, and needed to find a cure.

    "Indeed." Unnaturally coloured eyes watched the lithe little creature perkily bounce her way over to the large Unicorn, obviously elated that someone she knew had finally shown up — unable to keep the disgruntled look out of her visible golden eye, it was clear as the day was bright, Nephele had never had a foal of her own nor been in the company of one for a great deal of time. Erthe was a test of her patience, and she'd never had much patience to begin with.

    "I am not an imposter, I never claimed that I was your mother!" Snorting in exasperation, she elected to ignore the pink tongue poked out in her direction. Turning her attention back to Tembovu in the next breath as he mentioned the clearing up ahead, irritation giving way to relief at the mention of finding a way off of the rather cramped trail. "Lead the way, I'll be glad just to be able to move my head around at this point without a branch in my face." Following the boldly marked stud, making sure to be mindful of the little filly that would no doubt wind her way like a feline between the two of them.

    Content to listen to Tembovu entertain the youngsters questions, it was a prime opportunity to learn about herdlands and their variations. The only time herdlands had been discussed in great depth was back when she herself was young, her mother told tales about her herdland and her fathers, before they had flown off together. Neph herself had never spent too much time at the Edge in her exploration of Helovia.

    "Perhaps one day you can fly there Erthe." Neph commented, trying to make some effort to appease the porcelain equine in her company. Her own wings shifting at the mention of their need at the Edge while she flicked her tail to avoid a fallen branch, one or two stray strands snagging before they gave way — leaving the black and sienna strands wrapped wrapped firm around the gnarled wood. "See the edge of the world yourself, and what's on the other side."

    The question prompted her to fall into silence, head tipping to the side. "I've recently returned from a land far from Helovia, to the east of the borders. I'm Native to Helovia myself, I just have a wanders spirit." Entering the clearing was met with a relieved sigh, the amber and ash maned mare glad for the space, having stopped with her front hooves in the small creek. However small the clearing was, she was going to assume this was as good as it was going to get until the boughs and vines let up.

    "What about you?" Question coming moments after Nephele had answered Tembovu's own. "Is the Edge your homeland? Or just your Herdland?"

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Notes;; Notes go here!

     Watching the alabaster filly try and compare her wings, the raven hued mare was briefly cast back to her time as a youngling. How she'd compare her small, down covered wings to her mothers seemingly never ending ones, hoping one day hers would be just as big if not entirely eclipse Urania's. The memory was enough to soothe her critical gaze and first impression of Erthë somewhat.

     "One day, you'll have wings as big as mine," Nephele offered, stretching her own as far as they could go, which wasn't very far as they only lifted a fraction of the way off of her sides, "and I'm sure your mother isn't far away from us, if you thought I was her."

     Tembovu's reply was met with a swivel of her pierced ear, a questioning look misting her cerulean and gold eyes but she didn't press any further. While she wasn't good at reading people as well as her surroundings, she knew when to move on from a line of conversation on to the next. Nodding in response, she offered him a lopsided smile. "I did, I didn't leave Helovia entirely until about nearly two years ago. My mother and I were a part of one of the small roaming herds, I grew up between the Deep Forest and the Flats." It's a bittersweet memory, considering her mother was no longer alive to welcome her back to her homeland.

     The bitter part didn't have time to sink in, as two more strangers made themselves known. Tembovu's jesting wink paired with his bemusing admission he was the odd one out, had earned an amused snort from the large mare. She could tell her tales later, there was more pressing matters to attend to, they had new comers in their mist.

     Miykael was a sorry sight to her eyes, he looked weathered beyond the years his face carried. "Nephele." She offers with a small nod of her head, taking care not to let her long forelock obscure her vision — he seemed sincere and pleasant, but she could never be too sure. The next words he spoke, however, had her insides twist in a small bout of panic. The sap like substance which stained Erthë's face as well as his own, she was at risk of it herself — if she hadn't already contracted it. She couldn't ignore the apparently injustice of Miykael's predicament, as Tembovu had voiced. "It seems almost too cruel of the gods to do such a thing, why would they bless you with the cure, but not allow you to use it on yourself?"

     Odd coloured eyes peer at the Dunskin and the Dark Bay mare respectively, now the small bay has appeared. It takes a few moments more before she realizes that she has three different herdlands in her presence, two of which are outwardly vying for her recruitment and the third offering to cure her and the little fawn in their presence. Indecision had never been apart of her, but she can't help but feel a small bout of uncertainty on where she would end up — it was in the end her choice, and her choice alone after all.

     Nephele takes the mammoth stallions greeting to Megaera as a sign she poses no threat, ears pricking forward once more as she offers her a welcoming nod and introduced herself. "Nephele." Falling silent when Meg makes a comment of the Throat being a better fit, Neph's only sound is a mirthful laugh when Meg's light hearted jibe about the throat is met with Tembovu's own humor. Neph has heard of the throat, through her old herds tales and her mothers own brand of story telling in her youth, her own travels had never taken her south to the sun touched isles, something which she regrets to a degree, and so her old herdmates and Urania's stories had been all she knew of it. It was a island mostly inhabited by Pegasus, and the homeland of her father, if anything, her heart pulled towards the desert oasis.

     Her thoughts are pulled from her choice by Erthë's sudden burst of speech, prompting a surprised look to invade her dark features, she had been so quiet Nephele had almost forgotten she was there. Thick neck lowering so she could glance curiously at the filly curled around Tembovu's legs, her ear turning towards Tembovu's rumbling voice. Watching the black sap weep from the foals eyes and nose for a few moments, Nephele made up her mind. "If Miykael is up to the task, I would rather he try and heal her first." She stated, turning her head towards the Dunskin stud, then to Megaera and finally Tembovu. "Then myself, but like Tembovu said, I don't want you to overtax yourself."


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Notes;; Notes go here!