Common

For a moment the girl pauses where the sloping sands gave way to the spiky beach grass, her gaze bright as it flits over the various denizens of the Commons. Arael had not yet visited these lands, though she had heard plenty about the dangers of coming here. She trusted that Etheria would not guide her astray however; no matter what happened to her in these Common lands, she was certain that it would work out.

The path of light had long since faded, but it's direction and meaning were ingrained in her mind. She must move forward until she found whoever it was that her goddess was calling her to in order to find the next step of her journey. Arael's flanks slowly stopped heaving the longer she rested, neat little ears perked toward the open field that stretched before her. The early hour meant that few equines had emerged from their hidey-holes and the world remained largely quiet.

At least until the commanding presence of the black mare cantered into her line of sight and stopped rather suddenly, straight ahead of where the pale girl waited. Immediately the petite girl perked up, both intrigued and suspicious of her darkened color. Etheria was a creature of light and life, painting all of her followers in the same pale shade that she herself was slowly morphing into. And yet, the mare approached on the same trajectory that Arael had followed here. Surely this was Etheria's will?

The mare, too, seems to feel the same pull that guides everything Arael does and her worries about the mare's coloration disappear. Areal steps forward to meet her, and immediately dips her head to brush her lips against her own knee as a sign of greeting and respect. The fierce black mare has other ideas however, and she jerks her head up in surprise as Xio barks a question before Arael even completes her gesture. Arael is at first cowed, used to bending to authority, and then slightly put out to be scolded like an errant child. Soon she would pass her third birthday and as far as she was concerned, was no longer a filly to be mothered.

The pale girl drew herself upward, ears flicking back defiantly as the mare further chastises her. "Etheria led me here. She would not let me go astray."

Hardly a beat later, Arael watches as the mare cast an inscrutable glance into the distance, clearly deep in thought over something that troubled her. After a moment, the imposing black mare turns toward Arael again and issues a command to accompany her. Arael's dark eyes scrutinize the mare for a long moment before she decides to trust Etheria's guidance; her goddess had lit a path to the shores of the Meadow, that had led her on a straight trajectory to this mare, who promised to take her to a shore where she might find rest and comfort.

"Alright then." A flick of the pale strands of her tail across her haunches releases the last of her defiance and she takes a step forward as a peace offering. "Where do we go?"