He sensed her, before she could speak a word. Turned back to see who approached, picked her out from amidst the shadows. Nothing more than could be expected from one who had dwelled in the forests long enough to know the difference between the forest at rest and the forest disturbed. Yet he didn't flee, didn't retreat or attack. So she remained calm, inclining her head as he spoke her name.

When he turned away again, placing his back to the lands that had changed greatly with the changing of their guards, she removed herself from them. Stepping with quiet casualness to join him in the moon's glow, out amongst the silvered grasses. Not to his side, no. Instead she stood just off to the side, retaining a cautious but respectful distance. Just far enough that he could not wheel and stab her, should he choose. Not easily, anyway. She felt confident enough in her ability to leap away from a physical attack, and purposefully ignored the fact that he had more than just that way to inflict harm.

A sense of unease welled in the bond between herself and Zaffre, accompanied with both the intent and a question about coming to her aid. But she soothed the blue's concern with a balm of warm feelings, silently encouraging him to remain where he was.

Silence stretched in the night as her steps fell silent, dark eyes casting out over the sea of grass. So different were they, who stood silent in one another's company. He pale as a moonbeam, an extension of the glow that suffused the meadow. She a disembodied shadow nearby, silvered but possessing a stubborn darkness that defied the light of sun and moon alike.

And then he spoke, an innocent question, but smalltalk that she'd not expected from him. One ear twitched, tilting toward the Frostheart with a sidelong glance. "Well enough," she murmured in turn. "Time has swept me along in its path. My daughter became independent when I could no longer tolerate politics that I had become victimized by. It is hard to love those who ostracize you because you chose to sacrifice for their well being." She shrugged simply. "But there is a new light in my life from it, and I have fewer concerns as a healer than a warrior." It was more than she'd shared than with most she now called herdmates, but it did not strike her as odd to confess these small happenings to one that she could have called a foe. He reminded her of another, long ago, found on the ice while sick and vulnerable. But she wasn't sure why.

Their simple beginnings of a conversation were interrupted then, by heavy hoof-falls only mildly muffled by the grass they fell upon. Ears swept forward as she looked up to see another unicorn, near as pale as Mauja himself. Young, inexperienced, unknown. He took a neutral position before them, neither leaning more toward one than the other, before offering an unusual greeting indeed. A silently questioning glance was cast toward Mauja, recollections of their prior encounter and its quirky accompaniment with Monster floating in her mind. Then she returned her gaze to the young stud with a small nod. "Greetings." It was offered simply in counter to his brief salutation. And then she waited for Mauja to decide whether or not to stay.

He had turned aside from her, not wanting to subject himself to the helpless frustration of watching the Edge burn, but she stepped into his vision again. Sometimes he envied the dark horses and how they merged with the backdrop of the night, easily missed if you weren't looking. Not like he, a ghost in the dark, a beacon of light. In the land of snow and ice it had been perfect, further breaking up his shape with the irregular spots of black, but here it was practically a death sentence. He'd had to beat off opportunistic predators on more than one occasion. "Well enough." If only he could say the same — and if only he had known about what had snatched him up and away, perhaps he would've laughed at her wording, said she wasn't the only one to be swept away by Time. But as it was, he still didn't know why he'd been cursed with a detour in time and space, only to just walk back into this world one day, without having accomplished anything. No feat, no task, no quest — he'd just existed in his miserable little bubble, waning day by day. Black-rimmed ears flickered politely to her speech, one of them almost always cocked in her direction, the other patrolling the world for noises. "At least something good came of it," he said quietly, flicking his tail and trying to process the information. He knew that he would not be able to answer more, as another shape lit silver by the crescent moon was picking its way towards them, though as far as Mauja was able to tell the stranger was of a darker hue, his legs carrying dark points and patches of white broke up his coat. Definitely not pure white or gray, then, but some other light color. In silence, together with Smoke, he waited, ears mirroring hers and gaze alert. In the spaces between his own words and the stranger's greeting he had the time to wonder if these "politics" Smoke spoke of had been of Paladin's doing, and if they were the reason she had left the Foothills for the Edge. Some part of him wished that it were so, for Paladin would be easy to hate. Easy to make a target of. Stop it. He did not need enemies, targets, nothing like that. He needed a clear, open mind, unclouded by judgment and prejudice. "'Sup?" Mauja blinked, uncomprehending, for a moment, glancing at Smoke when her movement tugged at his attention, and gave his head a miniscule shake. No one he knew. "Greetings." So, "sup" was a greeting, of sorts? Offering a small, amused smile he stored the knowledge somewhere in his mind, and exhaled. He had not wanted company on this night, yet he found himself in the presence of two; Smoke of his past, and this horned stranger. Best resign himself to it, be gracious, do the best of it, maybe even forget his reservations. "Good evening," he said politely, eying the young stallion with interest lining his moon-silvered eyes. ( just realized Smoke has met nearly all of my "big" characters -- Adalwulf, Silverline, and Mauja. I don't think she ever met Sylvanas though..? )

Roy Strider "No, I'm not a hero. My bro was. You are. I'm not." Actions | "Speech" | Thought He looked from the mare to the stallion, one eyebrow raising as he noticed the distance between them. Should they have been in the middle of a deep conversation, they would have been much closer together than they were. He wondered, then, if he was interrupting something. Maybe it was a date, and he had inadvertently crashed the party? He gave a mental shrug, taking more interest in the unicorn than the mare. Not by way of prejudice, but because other than that black alicorn he had met on the beach, he had not seen another unicorn. Roy flicked his dark tail, black and pink freckled muzzle rising as he inspected the male, noting he was much older than himself, or so he seemed. The lighter coloring surprised him, though. The male stuck out like a sore thumb in the moonlight. That wasn't to say that Roy didn't know he did the same. The cream coloring of his back was likely to shine like white-gold and he knew this. The stag trotted towards the other male, stretching his nose out curiously. "Names Strider. Roy Strider. I've never met a horned brother before. This is awesome!" He snorted, happily and bucked with a burst of exuberance. "Dude, seriously, though. If I'm bothering you or like, ruining your date or whatever just say the word I'll leave and you know. you can get it on or... I dunno. I have to say though, nice choice cause that BH be smokin'." He said as he looked over his shoulder at the mare and gave her a wink. The youthful inexperience of the colt and his brash ignorance of social situations may have been unacceptable for an older stallion, but it was kind of cute on the Tobiano. He was obviously still a child, a teenager. Kicked from his herd, but not yet old enough to lead his own and in fact, still showing the ungainliness of a yearling whom hasn't quite grown into his legs... or the size of his head, for that matter. Roy turned around, looking from Mauja to Smoke and wondering if he really was crashing a party. He stopped within moments though, the fire in the distance reminding him of the night his bro had died. His excitement drained from his face and the poker face returned. He stood staring at the distant glow, as though transfixed by it. His ears swiveled back and forth, unsure whether to be shocked or angry. he saw again the sight of his bro, sliced open like a fish-fillet dinner and unable to berate the colt for the silent sobs that had racked through his body at the time. It'd been many seasons since then and Roy had all but cried himself out. Even now, as he thought about the flames that had surrounded them at the time, no tears could come to his gold-brown eyes. The silence that stretched over the tobiano was pensive, almost cold, and even though he seemed to be caught in a trance, staring at the flames, he was still listening to what was going on around him, so if someone spoke to him, he would break out of his reverie. 541 Mauja, played by Neo Smoke, played by Kachie BH = Brick House, Just so you know.

(( Haha, she has, hasn't she? I don't recall her ever running into Sylvanas though. ))

It didn't surprise Smoke to see the young stud chose Mauja over herself to approach directly. It seemed quite common for the unicorns of Helovia to flock together, and for stallions of all sorts to do so, if at a lesser degree. But she didn't bother to hide her listening, her watching, even when it became rather clear that this youngster was fascinated with the Frostheart for a more basic reason than what she'd expected.

Roy, was his name? And he'd never run into another unicorn? Strange, but charming nonetheless. But then the fellow kept talking, and her ears quirked in startlement. Date? What? Her lips quivered as she tried not to laugh, rather unsuccessfully. But instead of the full-bellied laugh she'd been inclined toward initially settled for a chuckle.

Her and Mauja? On a date? She doubted they qualified as friends, much less romantic interests. And what was it he'd called her...? A... BH? And he winked at her! She suspected he was little older than Kimber, and he was flirting? It garnered another chuckle. "I think you're a bit mistaken, young Roy. We are... acquaintances. But your compliments are appreciated." There was outright laughter in her gaze as she looked at Mauja, laughter that was politely kept bottled up for the young paint's benefit. She didn't quite notice the distracted air that had come over Roy, distracted herself by the humor of the moment.

It seemed that tonight would be another of those weird nights where nothing really made sense, as if it was an odd dream. Despite the dream-like elements of a beautiful night, a sea of washed-out lavender thistle and a faint curtain of mist in the distance, it was very real, and yet it felt so surreal when the young stallion picked out him and approached, calling himself Roy, the meeting awesome, and bucked. Young, his mind whispered immediately, as if the lankiness of him wasn't proof enough of that. "If you come home with me, you'll meet a lot more horn-heads," he said smoothly, not at all a creepy thing to say. A smile played in his eyes, and faintly upon his lips, his gaze intent upon this Roy. For being the first thing to come to mind, and actually being allowed to be said, it was a rather weird thing to say.. as if he had a habit of inviting young men in the middle of the night. But then, Roy kept talking, and the words he said were so utterly absurd that Mauja's pale face wiped itself completely clean of emotions. Date? Smoke? And what the hell was a BH? With his 'brows raised in surprise, which replaced the blankness, he turned as Roy did, catching the wink but not reacting to it for a moment. Smoke was chuckling, obviously amused, but Mauja found himself running his eyes over her grulla body, the white flicker of scars and the definition of her muscle. She was no slim thing, that was for sure, and if not for the lack of a horn upon her head.. yes, he could consider her attractive. She was a woman of a horse, and not some sprightly girl with her head in the clouds. And then, he realized that the last time they had met, which had also been the first, Monster had got really worked up about it, prancing around and snorting and pawing the ground, clearly wanting some. While Roy didn't belong to Mauja in the same sense, the obvious similarities in the meeting brought a rather genuine grin to his face. "Ah, Smoke, I don't mean to make this happen each time we meet, you know," he said, still with the grin playing across his muzzle. The edge fires taunted him from where he stood facing her, and had Roy suddenly lost his energetic edge? Whatever. He didn't want to see, or smell, the fires kept burning among the trees, and turned back to where he stood comfortably seeing both of them, but not the Edge. His silver gaze flicked back to Roy, and he nodded his head at him. The youngster didn't smell of either of the herds. "I'm Mauja, by the way."

Roy Strider "No, I'm not a hero. My bro was. You are. I'm not." Actions | "Speech" | Thought Roy seemed to be entirely transfixed on the flames, his awareness on the mirth between the two he was with was fading as the flames took him back in time... "I keep dreaming about you. About us. I keep wondering if... you're afraid of me dying. We've never talked about it. Ever. This bullshit shouldn't ever come up, but... I'm starting to think it's real. The way you move, it's like... you're not even mortal anymore. You're like a fucking angel. When, I die though. I look at you, and beg you not to be scared. I hope to god you're not... Angels shouldn't have to be." The cremello said as he looked down at the young colt beside him. The little paint looked up at the stallion and snorted, a poker face on his features as he raised one eyebrow and tilted his head. "What are you talking about, bro? You're not going anywhere anytime soon. I mean without me. Cause... we'll always be together, right?" The colt was confused, as it wasn't often they had serious talks about stuff like this. Most of the time, it was an endless stream of spars, rap wars and necessary grazing and sleeping. Roy was almost ready to hit his first year of life as Birdsong was around the corner. They could both feel it. The cremello looked down at his son and snorted out of amusement. "Yeah..." "I'm Mauja, by the way." The yearling was broken out of his reverie as those words broke through his awareness and he shook his head to look about him and remember where he was. He nodded to the older stallion who, aside from the dark spots, looked somewhat like his bro. Same general color anyways. Mauja... what a strange name. He thought as he looked the stallion up and down and then turned to approach the mare and sniff at her nose as way of a greeting. It was similar to kissing her hand, if they had hands to kiss. "You're right to be flattered. BH means Brickhouse, and it's a huge compliment to your appearance where I come from." He said as he stopped in front of her with a wink. He didn't seem to be all that excited about her, mainly because he was well, more into stallions than mares right now... or at least he was curious about it. Regardless, he did want to make sure she understood what he'd said and that he was trying to pay her a compliment about how well-built he thought she was. 427 Smoke, played by Kachie Mauja, played by Neo