It doesn’t take long for her to find Vesper— or rather, for the other filly to find her, a spindly shadow detaching itself from the greater whole of the jungle’s darkness. Selune isn’t surprised when her sister is suddenly there, capturing a strand of moon-silver mane in her teeth and tugging at it. Whether she is playing the role of the seeker or the sought, the inky girl always wins their games of hide-and-seek, perhaps because she has a gift for moving soundlessly and easily through the Ridge’s dense growth. A gift that has eluded Rivaini’s daughter, who— despite her sensitivity to sudden and loud noises— is often a source of those very same things. As if to illustrate that point, Selune giggles shrilly as she swings her hip into Vesper’s without breaking stride, intending to force her sibling off the slender path and into the ferns.

Instead, her long legs get all tangled up and the silver black filly tumbles to the ground with a shriek that quickly becomes a laugh.

Picking herself up with a shake that removes some of the soil from her dark chocolate coat, Selune wrinkles up her muzzle at her companion. ”Okay, okay, you win. But you missed it, Vesper! All the birds left today, and you didn’t say goodbye to even one.“ There is a vaguely-scolding note to the brighter girl’s voice, but it’s as short-lived as the summer storm of her frown. ”Don’t worry, though. I said goodbye to all of them for both of us, and mama-Rivaini said they’d be back next year.“ To the average foal, a year might seem like an eternity— but not for Selune, who has never measured time the same way as anyone else. Seasons, days, hours... those concepts ultimately mean nothing to the star-spangled filly. As long as she has Vesper and a game to play, time is both infinite and ephemeral.

And speaking of games— ”What did you want to do now, then?“ By unspoken agreement, the victor of their previous activity has always determined what the next would be. Which means that— more often than not— Faolain’s child is the one left to plot their course. And though any other set of siblings might have rivaled all the more fiercely for this one-sided balance of power, Selune is content where she stands. If nothing else, she’s always enjoyed the surprise of not knowing exactly what might follow. Plus she’s never been above making suggestions that steer her sister towards a particular path.

”We can go to the tidepools,“ she suggests, remembering the sight of Tigris and Euphrates playing down there. But, drat, by now the ocean will be rising again, and their favorite little beach will soon be swallowed. ”Or— wait, I know! We can go cave-hunting!“ She glances eagerly at Vesper for any sign of agreement, knowing that her dark friend has always favored activities that involve the Ridge’s most secret and unexplored paths. And Selune— well, she still hasn’t forgotten how pretty the first one they’d stumbled across had been, with its moss-carpeted walls and the thin cascade of water that tumbled down into its heart. Maybe this time there’ll even be bats. Or big mushrooms.

Or bats and big mushrooms.