Something in the air stirs before she can reach the colt. There is the faintest movement of light from her vantage, a brief tingling in the air that Ru fails to fully realize. Thinking that her eyes have tricked her from the cave’s light, she owes the mild disturbance to the movement of the walls – and the bodies reflecting and tossing its wayward presence.

In the midst of brushing him and stepping back, she finds herself ‘pleased’ by his appearance. Giving way to a rich bronze coat, dappled by the caves in rusted, shimmering contrasts. A crown of white covering his face. Her eyes dance across the ridges of his neck, to the spines of his feathers, until a light one-sided frown develops. She rests her gaze on his nearest shoulder. And having found no wings to accompany him, a cool, pale thought interjects her joy.

Words without form trouble her lips. The bright smile sobers briefly as she thinks, simply; ‘What happened?’

The youth blinks a few more times, investigating his shoulder from where she stood – skimming as much of its surface as possible to rule out fowl play. But before she can extend her head and press her muzzle along the skin, he moves further from her. A harshness ushers forward from his nostrils, a huff, an irritation perhaps?

Oblivious to his previous stillness, to the shock and confusion; she snaps back into reality when his voice tumbles out into the air. A voice nearly present, as her eyes darted back upon the stranger. A rare burn warms her cheeks from her core, having forgotten any manners than to poke and pry as she wished - momentarily ashamed for having done so…

Ru did not have an answer though. As his query loomed above her head she merely stared at him. A gaze as unwavering as the summer sun, bright and unabashed by her misdemeanor. Snagged by those eyes; they were pretty, like shades of silver immersed underneath a pool of blue-sky.

She hummed behind her lips, her curiosity gaining heat. Shifting her eyes away from his porcelain face, to the glowing caverns surrounding them; she shakes her head in response. The youth’s tail wiggles in contemplation; she attempts to change the subject with a gravelly grunt. Lifting her left wing she points with the radiale joint to his head, sweeps the limb down and settles it at his shoulders from where she stood. A sound punctures into the air – a misplaced note, as she tried her best to emphasize her observations

“Ah!”

Drawing her wing back she spreads them. Giving a few small flaps before tucking them back by her side. A coo finally emits from Ru – because she preferred the refined tone of its song, compared to the coarse, unhinged yelp prior. Now and then, she liked to convey the sense that she was smarter than what she could 'sound' out. Yet there was always a chance, a possibility that her newfound companion would think otherwise.

She braced herself for that possibility, forcing a smile as she tilted her head. The youth’s muscles, tensed slightly by the mere thought of rejection.