She appeared with little notice, so quiet and delicate were her steps, her grace. It startled the simple stallion who would have preferred to think gods myths and himself a fool.

White rimmed the wild eyes of Coris when he lifted his head. The fear was quickly stolen from him though, along with his breath, once he properly gazed upon this deity. As though she took the night sky as her cloak the pelt she bore was textured just as endlessly, just as deeply and just as gloriously as the heavens. Silver glinted occasionally as she moved, like splashes of starlight being revealed before the folds of darkness consumed them. For a while he could do nothing other than stare.

Stare in disbelief not only at the reality of this creature, but the splendor of her, and the wisdom.

She held him in a fierce stare that sent a cold paralysis down every core of the stallion's being. Her violet eyes swirled like lost galaxies and he trembled in awe of so many things he did not understand. She saw into him in a deeper way than anyone else, even himself. Return home?

"No I-"

He'd never really thought of it before. It had always been one step at a time and that first step included bonding or finding magic. It had always been elusive step, forcing him to stand still all these years. The more he considered it though, the more Coris realized that he would have returned home to snuff it in the faces of his kin that he was worth while, that he was special. And then what? Would he be happy with his revenge and go back to wandering the lost hills of the world? I would stay he realized with a weakness that grieved him deeply. He'd hoped he'd put his past behind him and shunned his family as equally and as quickly as they turned their backsides to him, but he was nothing more than the small colt still trying to prove himself in their eyes to just get an ounce of the same love they showed everyone else.

The tension broke. From fear to awe to shame so his eyes turned and sunk to vacantly watch the blue magma sizzle down the mountain's nape. Lashes blinked over a distant gaze and a chest pulled taut over a heavy heart. Her request was not one to be taken lightly. If he agreed, not only could he never go home, he could never leave this place. He knew very little of this place and less of it's people, having stopped only to hear enough that suited him and send him this way. In retrospect he realized how quickly he was using this territory for selfish desires - he'd always thought himself a giving stallion, even if his gifts came with prices. It hurt him more than he'd realized to think he could never step foot back into the canvas shelter of his birth place. A fire had always been stoked and there was the aroma of blood and sweat while his family worked to skin their catches. Raptors of all kinds lined the surrounding trees, guarded eyes watching him intrusively.

Coris shivered.

"I accept," he responded meekly. With ears turned low in his sorrow and head hung in defeat, the stallion could only do as she asked. He could never return home anyway without her help so he was damned either way. In a whisper, Coris said his peace, "Goodbye mother, father..."

Her next words demanded his attention. Gradually Coris urged himself from the hallways of his fondest memories, seeming to forget the cruelty of his family that cast him out so willingly. The goddess spoke names unfamiliar to the stallion and he glanced up at her with concern lifting his 'brow. "You are kind to aid me, Goddess. I am hesitant to ask further of you, but your task is no small matter..." Coris' mouth ran dry then and he licked his lips in anticipation of her less than kind response to his questions. He would rather risk the opportunity to ask however, than be set wandering this massive region looking for two names. How will I know these figures? Where do they keep?"

She might have spoken plainer, but it was all still cryptic to the new traveler that new no names and no faces. Trying best he could to hide the disappointment in his features as the moon described further on the two he was fated to meet. At least it would help him recognize who he sought, even if the direction to start remained unclear. North, west, east, south? Where is this world edge, where is this ranging band?

He would get no more help from her he knew. Perhaps she intended for him to wander around like some half-witted colt trying to find his lost dam, muttering her name while spinning in clear circles. Perhaps she was only a magician and no god at all - a trickster providing a good appearance but no prize for all his efforts if they were accomplish-able efforts at all.

Withholding his doubts and his cynicism, Coris nodded his head in silent gratitude. With a sharpness to his eyes he glanced at her one final time before retreating down steep pathway. His final gaze would speak of his troubled thoughts and his mistrust, but just as equally of his determination and his desperation.

Do not prove me right, I beg that of you.