The forest was more bleak than she had ever remembered it, the barren trees stretching upwards into pitch shafts that mimicked the inkiness of the sky, despite the enchanted lights that were strung along the paths that trailed into it's heart. Her heart was racing slightly despite herself, the corporal finding herself rather uneasy and watchful, the darkness in combination with the foreboding fears of beasts that lurked in the night, an idea placed within her mind by the Lady Psyche the last they spoke, drawing to mind anxieties that she had not felt since she was still a child. It left her feeling weak and useless, which had left her stalking the perimeters of the Basin in agitation with herself until finally she had decided to venture forth and face the black beasties, whatever they might be, if they were even there at all.

Despite her resolve, the mare was still nervous, her ears twitching about at the slightest rustle or creak that came from within the trees. She had been this way all the while here, her progression slower than her usual fearless prance about the terrain of Helovia, the golden horned unicorn taking time to ensure her hooves were placed for optimum silence and her paths planned so that she could escape, if the situation called for it. Ever since her return to her homeland, Illynx had been forced more and more regularly to deal with things that she would much rather not; it made her question her decision to return home, the femme trying as hard as she could to not ponder it too deeply, knowing within her heart that regardless of the difficulties that life placed on her in Helovia, there were those that needed her.

Her body was thin and showing the signs of wear that a harsh, sunless winter within the Basin had inflicted, the corporal stubbornly refusing to eat much when she found it, preferring the stoic, albeit foolish, act of letting others eat before herself. Today had eased the rumble of her belly somewhat, as she had lucked upon some dried grasses she uncovered along the path here, but still her senses were heightened to the odor of forage, her stomach craving more than what she had managed to uncover for it in the past week. She halted in her progression into the wood as one of these alluring smells came to her, the unicorn turning her head towards the scent and taking a few tentative steps forward, her golden eyes searching for what her nose had uncovered in the murky darkness of the forest floor. And then, she saw it; a patch of grass, some ten foot off of the path, standing a foot tall, it's long stalks dry and golden as they waited eerily still and erect. Quickly, she swept forward, her orbs accompanying her ears on a search for danger in the surrounding area; she sensed none but kept her alerts up, her mouth coating itself in a thick veneer of saliva as she lowered her head and inhaled the sweet scent of the golden blades, her teeth clipping away hungrily.

The golden buckskin had finally made the choice to leave the Throat, to leave Rasta's side after so long. She would be safe with them and he trusted Onni or Sohalia to watch over her. He needed to get out there, make friends and maybe even find the one true love. Before it was all over for him. Age slowly creeping up behind him, before long he would not be capable to start a new life, to have a family. He wanted all of that, but to find such thing was not so easy and now he set out on the journey of friendship and lust.

Deep, almost black, coffee stained legs moved swiftly through the lands of Helovia. Across the dry desert, over the lake, across the sandy white shores and to only find himself running headlong into a forest. One thicker than any he'd ever seen. However the harsh winter and lack of light had taken it's relentless force upon this place. Once filled with greenery, now just bare logs and branches, rotting foliage lay underneath the white blanket that froze everything in its place. Once pretty, now striped of life, He made his way over fallen tree's, under others and pushed on through the deep snow covered terrain.

The forest would be the last place he'd have thought to end up, but something allured his existence here. Something female masked by the scent of food. A thing which blackened lips had not tasted, felt, in a few days. To some this would be the most hardest time for them, but others had known and seen worse. Including him. The abdominal's contracted with the lack of food, churning and gurgling as he moved, only making him feel more and more hungry. His golden and black stain face rose upwards as he caught the flash of movement, spiking at his curiosity, The stallion called out softly, not a warning but a sound of friend. Following in the direction which he assumed was the right way, towards whomever may be out there. So set on finding someone, along with the set of starvation forever encrusting his mind. The though of them being not friendly, did not once cross over the once wise stallion's mind. For all he knew, this could be a trap and he was walking right into the spiders web.

The thick foliage, that once was green, soon began to sparse out, leaving a slight opening, almost like the path of a river, embedding its path in the earths crust for eternity. There right in that opening was another. This one, thankful for him, did not bare wings. A smile crept over his face as he made one step out into the same small area she stood. He didn't move close and kept a distance, not wanting to frighten them off. He chose to nicker softy, a gentle rumbling sounding from inside his rib cage as he called out to the Golden horned one, hoping to at least get some kind of response and not them flee. The darkness had made everyone so weary of each other.

"Talk Talk Talk." @[Illynx]

A rustle that emanated from the path behind her drew her munching to a halt, her ears flying backwards to catch the hoofs that beat their way towards her. Still, her head was lowered, the mare choosing to pretend that she did not notice the approach of the other, hoping against hope that she would not be noticed by whoever drew near. It would seem she was not so fortunate, however, as she heard hesitation in the steady beating on the earth, her muzzle breathing in slowly around the strands of grass that tickled at her soft nose. Whoever it was, it was a male, and she did not know him; he smelled of sand, not snow or stone, and that alone made her muscles tense all the more. She had been sighted by an enemy, her eyes narrowing as she took another mouthful of grass and slowly chewed as the stallion's first call caught her ears, the mare sensing no hostility in the sound but still intently focusing on the region from whence the noise had come.

Still he approached, though she gave no reply to his initial greeting but for a smack of a thick, expansively long tail upon her flanks, the quiet grinding of her teeth against the blades within her mouth. It wasn't until he was brave enough to enter into her small clearing that Illynx chose to raise her head and pay him any mind, her eyes finding his face just as the final note of his nicker died in the darkness. Her golden riddled pelt shifted upon her as she turned swiftly to face the intruder, her own face remarkably stone cold in the face of the equine's smiling features, an accusation writ across her mask as she noted the lack of a horn upon his brow. The corporal moved so as to place herself between the stag and the patch of grass that she had discovered, the lingering edge of her hunger making her protective over her meal though she had accomplished to sate it for the most part, the simple smell of the desert upon his buckskin body drawing to mind an ire that Illynx reserved specifically for those who had committed indiscretions against her or her people.

"The Throat," she sneered, remembering that it had been their leader who had attempted to steal away Psyche, that the desert dwellers had already shown their blades that gleamed in the dark. Her muscles tightened, each limb and bit of sinew poised to strike or flee, her guard raised in defense against the stallion, unsure if he was hostile towards the Basin as was his queen or if he was innocent of any crime against the horned beings of the mountain, and she was much too aware of the distance between herself and the aid of her kin. This was not the time to ask questions later; she could not afford to trust anyone in the midst of this shadow. But, as her heart slowed, her fierce gaze sweeping across the pale gold coat of the stag, she noted that he was bone thin as she was; it was logical, truly. A desert could not provide much food on good days, much less ones without any sun to feed the plants, and the nearly starved condition of the male made her gaze soften slightly.

"Have you come to kill me?" she dubiously queried, finding it laughable now that she had said it aloud that he was an assassin. The poor stag was as weak as she had been before she had foraged some, outside of the perimeters of the Basin, and it was liable that he was only here to find something to eat, much as she was herself. "Obviously you aren't." She answered her own question with sureness, her sinew releasing it's tight clutch, and slowly she turned back around to graze more upon her patch of grass. If he chose to attack her turned back, then he was a damnable fool; there were few beasts more vehement than the little corporal when she had been double crossed or duped, especially by a vagrant equine from the Dragon's Throat. "I would not offer normally, as you are clearly not worthy of it -" she shot a quick glance behind her, golden eyes landing upon the bald space on his forehead, where there should be a horn, "but there is some grass here, under this tree." She did not like him or his kind, that was to be sure, but she could imagine no greater suffering than to slowly wither of starvation, and while her own thin bodice had derived from her refusal to eat from what the Basin provided, this one and his kin were liable to truly starve within their already sparsely vegetated desert home.