“This ice knows nothing of my intent then, for it is hardly honorable," said white shouldered Déodat, his smile alluring as his words in the ethereal light of the tunnel. She found herself bemusedly returning the expression, her golden eyes alight with the warmth of her casually petted ego, the stallion's own gaze like the tips of fingers trailing across her skin, and she basked in his company. She thought of what it would be like to near closer the bay male, whether he smelled like earth or the sea, and if the thick winter layer of his coat was soft or coarse upon her ebony velvet muzzle. And surely he was warm, no matter the circumstances of his heart, whether he was cold as the grave beneath his flesh or simply as unattainable as a mawful of smoke, he had warmth to him. Even Illynx was kind to those who had earned it from her, a special location in her breast reserved for her true companions, the unicorns that she would gladly die for could she save their own beating hearts for an exchange of hers. She absorbed the quiet confidence of the bloody bay in her own reserved way, prying and prodding with figurative fingers at the weave that was slowly hatching itself into a mental picture of who this soldier was, and she found that despite his hard stone casing, he had vast potential to be a truly powerful ally. She may not have ever come to truly know a stallion in the traditional sense, but she had known enough of them to be sure that a man had no limits when it came to winning and preserving the heart of a beautiful woman, and with that thought she put extra care into each and every movement of her sinewy build.

Her gaze remained soft and what she believed to be understanding as the stallion rebuked her words to describe his company, though inwardly she examined the cracks and flaws in this facade. If he truly believed himself to be an ancient and ruthless man of ice, then he was all the more vulnerable to the corporal's advances, and genuinely any advance of female to come his way; as previously ruminated upon, Illynx knew of the powers of charm and allure, relying upon them heavily in her daily dealings with others, that these powers could melt even the most thick and frozen shell within moments if applied to where the layers were thinnest. She wondered where exactly she would have to place her torch on this one - and deciding that maybe, just this once, she wouldn't force the ice to melt at all. "But surely you are not all frozen," a playful sigh tumbling from her, "as we are crafted of mortal flesh, and beneath that flesh is blood, hot and restless." Blood that she could send rushing through their veins if she was to touch him, to explore the density of his shell, ruffle the ever so delicately waved black lengths of his mane where they grew from his shoulder as her own body pressed into his; but they were just lustful daydreams, the golden minx gracefully admiring what she could not yet touch from her polite distance, waiting with cat-like eagerness for her opportune moment to strike behind her facade of friendly innocence.

She was pleased to find that Déodat listened to her words with a quiet look of thought, admiring not only that the male could use his ears but also his brain. He was silent for a while, re-articulating her words as she continued on with her explanation, however much or little he may care to hear it. When she had finished, his words cut back to her with the sharp edge of man who's pride has been wounded, to which the golden mare smiles bemusedly and with much wickedness. But while his reply had expressed his offense, it also painted a rather sorrowful picture of the red horned stallion's life. She found a deeper understanding of the man's cold heart from just this statement alone than she had in their previous banter, and it raised her curiosity of the stag all the more, her iridescent orbs watching his thick and beautiful tail thrash about in his agitation. A single ear fell back from an attentive position as his hoof struck the glossy floor of the cavern, the noise echoing about the air in a cacophony of noise that enveloped all the traces of his words that lingered. "I did not mean to question your capabilities," she said, her tiara tossed away coyly, her forelock splayed through the air as it resettled over her left eye, her right peering at him with a bright and flirtatious intensity, "I do have eyes, and they can see you." She shifted her weight back onto all four of her hooves and made a few tentative steps towards the entrance of the cave, aligning her body in close proximity to that of Déodat, though she cast him not a single gaze as she gracefully slipped alongside him, her gaze looking out upon the field of white that could be seen out of the mouth of the tunnel. As she moved, she attempted to find a way to word what it was that she truly wished to know of him, without further goading his temper that broiled and writhed much nearer the surface than she had initially expected of the calm natured stag. But, like most things that threw the elegantly crafted corporal off balance, it was highly endearing to see such a similar fire to her own in such a handsome stallion. "I fear the discovery of our purposes, as does Psyche. If we are to be revealed to Helovia than we must be prepared, and I am afraid much of our family is unknown to me, and there are many within our home who do not even know what sort of place they rest their heads at night." She paused, listening to the rumbling of the thunder growing larger and more ominous over the purring of the waves, her own concerns for her people and the bright, gleaming future she saw on the horizon if only they could succeed at their aims. "Mostly I worry how strong we will be when those who do not feel as we do discover us, when they leave." She knew that at this particular moment in time, the Basin was not vulnerable, due to their vast size; but she also knew of several she had met since she had returned were not suitable candidates for their cause, and also highly likely to depart when the caught the scent of their plot upon the breeze. There was, of course, Psyche's alliance that she was attempting to make with the Grey, but that was only a wall of glass, in Illynx's opinion, something that pretended to be much more solid than it genuinely was. "We need more with hearts like ours, driven to complete our goals, and I have found that my Threshold ventures have left me rather unfulfilled."