Common

she was alone, and she liked it.

"No, I haven't," the spotted girl answered quietly, her mind racing with questions about Luthien. She wondered if the wildlife there would be as interesting as Atlantis, but just as she began picturing a life with Jabari on this exciting new island, he punctured the balloon of her imagination. So the Crossing then?

She lapsed into silence to ruminate over this new development but listened closely to the way his tone changed the moment she asked him if he disliked her. It wasn't that Faelyn would be particularly upset if he were, although she would be mightily confused as to why he sought her out if he didn't like her. She simply wanted to know because it was so very different from what she had expected to find here.

"There's nothing wrong with Paradise." Faelyn calmly answered his kneejerk question, her tone measured as she thought through her own motivations in coming to the Crossing. "I could stay there if I wanted, but it has little left to offer me." She had never bonded with Rougaru's other children, and her mother had never warmed to her. And these days she knew most of the wildlife on Atlantis (at least those that frequented Paradise), and found precious few new things to capture her attention.

Studying his face, she concluded her argument (if it could even be called an argument) with what she felt was the glaringly obvious part of this whole equation. "And it's not as if I would stay on as Rougaru's mare." The thought made her muzzle wrinkle slightly, although it had far more to do with the fact that she considered him as a father figure, rather than as an indication of character judgment. "It was time to find something new."

Jabari's next comment did nothing to stem her confusion and she stared at him for a long moment before answering hesitantly. "... thank you?" Compliments did not often fall her way, and it wasn't her custom to seek them either. She didn't particularly understand why he had felt the need to shower her with them now, but she could sense no ill intent behind it.

"I-" Stymied, she frowns slightly, studying his face as if she'd never seen it before. Was she settling? No, she didn't think so. Nor did she particularly think he was correct about her variety of choice in homes given their lack of additional company, but she didn't intend to argue that point. "I don't think I'm settling."

"And... " Being complimented had been strange enough, but now she found herself in a strange quandary. She had no idea how it was normally done, but it felt a bit like saying goodbye to someone: if only one person said it, the other would be seen as rude. She hummed to herself again for a moment, sorting through the options; maybe something simple like his smile, or the way he offered care and concern for her without knowing her, or even perhaps something like the generic good looks of his patterned coat.

In the end, she went with none of those options, choosing to follow her heart, even if the words that left her mouth made little sense. "...the moonlight turns your mane purple," she said carefully. "It's very pretty and makes your brown eyes stand out."

Job done.

Hoping that the strange interlude of compliments was done, Faelyn tried to steer the conversation back to the more important topic, if only to make sure that Jabari knew that she held no grudges. "It's okay if you didn't want to ask. I just assumed that's why stallions approached mares here." She smiled faintly again. "I don't mind if you want to stay for company... I don't think anyone else is coming for me anyway." Her gaze broke from him to parse the dark shadows beneath the treeline but found nothing new there. Still unbothered, the spotted girl lowered her head to the grass for another bite of grass.

mare - 2 - lusitano mutt - 16.3hh - dunskin roan blanket - tyr x sonorae - loveinspired