Eventide is softly casting o'er the earth a magic spell,

And a love-song, everlasting, on the night wind seems to swell.

It didn't take her too long to find the former battlegrounds. While time had erased the more obvious signs - washed away the blood and the soot and wrapped whitening bones in a wreath of verdure - there were things you couldn't hide as easily. Scorch marks on red-leaf trees whispered suggestively, betraying the whereabouts of glittering fragments of blue crystal, dimmed and faded under the wear of wind and water but there none the less. The soft ground surrounding the ruby red basin had been trampled to mud back then, and if you knew what to look for it was still possible to see where the grass was shorter, less durable.

Though moderately thirsty after the long flight, Erthë still shunned the blood-colored water. Too many foul essences had mixed into that liquid for her to want to drink it, like that argent princess had done nearly half a year ago. Instead she drifted towards the shadows and lapped at the moss and the ferns, nibbled dewy grasses until the worst of the dryness had eased away from her throat.

Just about to pick her way gingerly through the dense woods, Erthë paused and turned warily as a voice called out to her. She hadn't expected company - not here, of all the god-forsaken places of the world - and it felt like a bad omen to see the tall, tenebrous stallion walk towards her out of the darkness.

His query didn't exactly sound cheerful either. Was she alone? Well. Even if she was, how smart would it be to tell this handsome devil? A normal girl might have tried to evade the question somehow, excused herself and then left the place immediately. But, well. Erthë was weird sometimes. The weight of an ivory weapon pressing against her side beneath the folds of alabaster feathery made her braver than what was healthy, so she felt no need to run or hide or otherwise consider her own safety.

"For now" she replied with an airy smile, soft tunes lilting with the poorly suppressed thrill of being on adventure. "I've been testing my wings, see. And you... are not alone, I see?"

Pale dual-toned eyes moved to fix upon a second stallion, equally dark and armed with both sword and a peculiar sense of humor. Her smile faltered a bit, unsure of how to respond to the jibe - did he mean she looked lost and in need of help, or that she seemed too weak to travel on her own? Or was it a way of suggesting she should stay and chat, or some poorly phrased invitation to play? This second unicorn seemed a bit older than the first, and it felt decidedly odd to think of adult horses playing the way she imagined it, romping around over flowery fields chasing butterflies.

"Well..." she said, hesitant and obviously puzzled. "Well I suppose I don't have to leave yet. I don't mind company, so..."

She shrugged and tried the friendly smile again, though she didn't try to bridge the distance between herself and them. Naive she may be, stupid she was not.

"I'm Erthë" she offered, gaze moving between the young men in an expectant manner. "Whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to?"