As Vu launched towards their presumably unknowing quarry, sooty lips and pearly-white teeth worked in perfect unison to gather quickly and artfully a generous helping of the new grass into her mouth. What might have appeared to the undiscerning eye to be churned slush and part-rotten mulch, quickly became a delectable meal that only served to excite her gluttonous appetite more. Given the rising temperature of the day, and a sudden disinclination to divert her attention to anywhere other than the earth, Hildegunn continued on in much the same manner - heeding the words exchanged with very slim interest..

Never through her upbringing on the wintry archipelago back north, had the little round mare witnessed such a visible turn in weather - warmth so unexpectedly dense that she felt the need to lean a little harder into every step; sunlight so loud, so bountiful, that she was reminded of Skjoervø’s teeming waterfalls at the end of many thawing rivers. The foreigner could not deny its effect, even if she wore it alone. It was as stunning as it was exhausting, and after the journey just taken from the timber threshold, young Hildegunn felt rather uninspired to venture much further. Her grey skin, forever buried beneath thick-thermals, purged fluid at a great rate of knots and the soft silvery dampness thereon, soon looked a lot more like running rivulets down each leg. So too did her thick pink tongue lap at smoky lips (whenever they weren’t nibbling), cleansing the constant dribble as it poured from her puffing nostrils - allergy was a bother she’d not before known.

At about that time she began to notice the lack of moisture in her rather parched throat.

The understanding between she and Vu was another small victory; a second fracture in the vastly overwhelming, seemingly insurmountable wall which was their frustratingly unalike languages. Chewing steadily, Hildegunn’s sandy face lifted at last to acknowledge her companions, and she swallowed hard a final succulent mouthful before stepping forward casually to join them. Her wandering gaze, quickly discovered the (afore missed) array of interwoven brown, black and white encasing him - she thought with a fond smile, like the bedraggled wild-forests of her home. He was pleasing to behold make no mistake, and even as she halted by the taller girl, the little mare let herself inspect him properly; without the concealment of midnight’s shadow.

Twin ears, pricked as always listen as he speaks, but without any way of unravelling his tongue she settles herself one again to observe and take notes - and to watch with mild amusement the flutter of small birdlife returning to the budding twigs overhead.