Birdsong has always been my favorite season. We called it something different back home, but the landscape is the same regardless of location. The snows have melted, a blessing after the harsh Frostfall that we have endured, and have been replaced with emerald blankets of grass, dotted here and there with nature's colorful accessories, flowers. Animals are emerging from their winter hideaways, carefully poking their heads into the spring warmth, like turtles in their shells. But they, too, are eager to taste the energy of the sun once more, and soon enough they scatter throughout the lands, making everything alive with the chitter of various species. Birds tweet overhead, each song weaving with the others to create the unique melody of spring - I'm assuming that is why these Helovians call it Birdsong. I am convinced that there is nothing quite so beautiful in all the world.

I have travelled from the Veins of the Gods following my encounter with the Sun God - what a glorious meeting that was - and arrived at the Foothills. I didn't know if I would find what I was searching for there. The Sun had given me a task, and I would fulfill his request, both to gain what I had asked for and to appease him, for I should not like to see what happened to those who failed. And so I have travelled, arriving in the Foothills, not quite knowing how to proceed. I am not of a herd, myself, though I am soon to be - the thought fills me with trepidation - and so I haven't the slightest clue what rituals or rules I might have to follow. Would I, a simple mare searching for a simple answer, be deemed a trespasser? Or would I be welcomed, and given what I needed, and allowed to wander on my merry way? Well, I wouldn't find out by standing around. Cautiously, I called out, hovering on the edge of the herdland, my body tensed to leap into flight if need be, but solidly on the ground for the time being.

The Dauntless wandered around his lands in search for his older brother Evers. He needed to speak with his now equal. In their past Archibald had always been the superior one, and not just between Evers and himself--Archibald was Mandrake's favorite son. The black knight still believed he was held in the highest esteem, but for once in their lives Evers and Archibald held equal ranks within a herd. He estimated that with their rise to power Mandrake would push the other sons to strive for high ranks--especially Tajheri. With Archibald as a warlord, he knew his mother would push her other battle skilled son to General. Archibald scoffed at the though--Tajheri would need to learn to control his temper better before the Chief would be ready to promote his brother.

Distracted by all the thoughts of his family Archibald only noticed the newcomer by Loretta's growl. With forward pricked ears Archibald turned and trotted towards the winged one. The scent that wafted towards him did not resemble any of the other herds; she was obviously an outcast. The black knight's golden eyes flashed over her smaller frame, taking in strengths and weaknesses and committing them to memory. Lifting his body into a dominant stature Archibald picked up to a trot to lessen the distance between them. "Stranger, you are asking entrance into the Windtossed Foothills. I am Archibald the Dauntless, a Chief of the herd."

Archibald stopped when he was a few Loretta sized bounds away, lifting his head and locking eyes with the new mare. He noticed her posture. She was nervous, wings slightly extended and ready for a quick take off. She should feel nervous when stepping into his land and not falling under his command, for the Dauntless was not always a forgiving creature. In fact, Mandrake molded his unforgiving nature with her quick taste to hold grudges. The older draft had made Archibald everything she wanted, and he would continue to be so until the day she died.

This is insanity. I should not have come here, I should not be standing here on the border of these lands, asked for temporary entrance, seeking a killer. What was I thinking? Wouldn't it have been easier to just seek outcasts? They would be so much easier to converse with, those like me, with no ties, no obligations, no one to protect except themselves. But here I am, and I cannot back down now, for I fear I have already been - ah, there we are. A large dog-wolf-creature bounds toward me, and I toss my head in fright, eyes wide, legs splayed, fighting the urge to rear, to leap into flight. I am not usually so fearful, but then, I am not usually approached by predators. Well, that's not true. When the wolves threatened Lace, Tor and I in the woods, I had stood by his side as Tor fled. Why is this so different?

Oh, I'm trespassing. Right.

I prance backwards, thinking of turning and leaping to the air; but then I see a stallion approaching, and it seems that the mongrel is bound to him. I take a few deep breaths, forcing calm into my veins. I will never get the answers I need acting like a fear-stricken filly. He introduces himself, and something in his words speaks of command, of discipline. He seems the type, all muscle and brawn, but surely with some brains in that head of his, set so far above my own. I feel tiny, fragile. He could snap me in half. I swallow, hard, shy in the presence of the Chief (a chief?). This, of course, is why I fear joining a herd so very much. What do I even say?!

"Thank you, sir," I say, my voice wavering. Is that right? Is that what one says? I hurry to introduce myself, to cover my perceived blunder. "I am Sohalia. I am a wanderer, sent by the God of the Sun on a quest. I... I am not sure if I would be permitted to seek answers here?" It is a question, and rightfully so. He is horribly intimidating, and I am fighting the instinct to flee. I understand that to do so might well be a mistake; he would take me then for not only a coward, but potentially a criminal, and that is the last thing that I want. And so I focus on breathing, on ensuring that oxygen continues to flow. In, out... in, out. Yes, that's a good thing to focus on. In, out... in, out.

Something inside of the black knight was fueled on the acts of fear that came from the pegasus mare. Her fear of him, of Loretta, it pushed pure, golden joy through his veins. Satisfaction, surely, from the years Mandrake had taught him; his mother would be pleased as well. He wondered if she were here now, sitting silently in the trees, her body smaller in her second form, silent and deadly as a wraith. The Chief felt no discomfort in his mother's continuous watching--he knew every move he made caused her heart to swell in pride and her brain to form devious plans for him. With narrowed eyes Archibald solidified his body, legs spread evenly to balance his substantial weight, head up and set forward with narrowed eyes.

"What is it you seek, Sohalia?" Archibald bristled at the thought of the Sun God, the bastard had damaged his lands. Archibald's only like of the gods rested on the shoulders of the Earth God--the one that had blessed him so much. The Dauntless knew that the God of the Foothills could see his power--which, in Archibald's mind, had been the reason the draft tri-brid had granted him with his immensely powerful magic as well as his loyal bitch, Loretta. As far as the others went, Archibald felt indifferent or despised them--as in the case with the Sun God. "I should grant you nothing, for your God" He spat the word God, venom dripping from each of the letters, "Has done nothing but destroy my home since I have been here."

Feeling Archibald's blatant distance for this new creature, Loretta bent her legs and lowered her body slightly, ready to spring. Her lips raised and wrinkled over her mouth, a gate of pearly fangs ready to snap as she displayed her silent snarl. Archibald's tail flicked dully over his back legs, stray strands of the black appendage snapping Loretta's backside. The dark ears that broke the flow of the Chief's mane to his forelock twitched as thoughts ran through his deep mind.

[I am so sorry for this >.< My muse is low]

Anger bubbled in the king. It seemed that it was not a foreign thing for him to feel when strangers came to his land. Archibald felt angry when Delinne, the lightning-marked unicorn came to the Foothills, but merely for the fact that Delinne had been a part of the Edge before the invasion. Sohalia, however, bowed down to a deity that Archibald did not see fit for his rule over the land. Loretta, besides him, fed off of the anger and the hairs along her spine stood on end.

"Well, Sohalia," Archibald spoke in a rough tone, taking a step forward domineeringly. "I am a killer." Archibald had been killing his entire life. He killed two of his brothers' fathers already, and would continue to do so as long as it was demanded by his mother. Mandrake held his true and undying loyalty, even above the Foothills--and what she said, he did. Casimir's father had been a helpless brute, so overcome by the idea that he loved Mandrake to fight back, he was killed with ease. Roanne, however, was a little tougher. "As I have told you before, I am Archibald the Dauntless and I killed Roanne the Sentinel."

As his sentence finished, Archibald lurched forward and snapped his teeth near one of her wings, a warning. "Be gone, now, mare--and do not trespass again!" Loretta snarled, hurling her blood and pearl body towards Sohalia, jaws snapping her the grey female's hooves. Loretta growled as she acted, ears pinned. Archibald watched in pride as his bonded did her duty at protecting the Foothills alongside him, her jaws warning the mare to leave and to leave quickly. Archibald hoped Sohalia would listen, and fly away in fear, but he was not one to predict the foolish acts of mares.