The jealousy Cerosi felt was almost playful. N.asa looked like she belonged here, and Cerosi was happy for her, despite the envy of her comfort in the heat. The gunmetal mare thought she may have traded the other woman physical comfort for social; N.asa seemed a bit tense, and Cerosi did not want to make any assumptions, but she thought her agreement with the request to meet the rest of the herd sounded a bit hollow. Still, she admired her for trying. She had been a shy filly, and though she had grown out of it (or rather, been forced out of it) she remembered the discomfort.

She followed after Cain. It took her some time to grow accustomed to walking through the sand, which slipped under her hooves in an odd way, but she adapted quickly. Mostly out of impatience, though she did her best to hide that unpleasantness from her new companions. She was grateful, and truly, she was mostly impatient with her own body for adjusting slowly to the new environment. Cain led them to water first, and Cerosi hardly had time to admire the beauty of the oasis as she greedily drank from the clear pool. Her impatience disappeared, and whatever sour mood she had been approaching began to abate. She was prone to mood swings and sudden flashes of anger, a trait of which she was not proud and did her best to control. It was one of the few “gifts” she had inherited from her father.

When her thirst was slaked, she looked up at N.asa, then back at Cain. He had asked if they had any questions, and she thought for a few moments. ”How did you come to the Desert?” she asked. ”And how did you meet your herd?” She had others, but those were pretty heavy questions, so she fell silent so that Cain could answer and so N.asa had a chance to ask questions of her own, if she had any.

• CEROSI •