The longer that he stared at her, the more certain she became that there was something outwardly wrong with her appearance and she suddenly wished she had taken more care in her appearance before leaving the Cove. Kohelet's experience with the opposite gender had been largely limited to her siblings and immediate family, for whom she cared little about her appearance. In truth, it hadn't even occurred to the tobiano girl to even consider what she looked like beyond making sure that she didn't have mud on her face, and now she was sorely regretting her mistake.

She didn't really understand why it mattered to her so much, only that it did, especially under the intense scrutiny of his gaze. Kohelet had managed to blurt out her intentions despite the strange lip-curling he'd done, but only silence greeted her offer and she shifted awkwardly in place. Kohelet would freely admit she wasn't particularly politically savvy, but she had thought that coming to offer assistance settling in was a generically friendly option that would help both the stranger and her father come to an accord.

Plus, if she were being honest with herself, she was curious about the handsome young stranger.

Eventually, he nodded and she exhaled the breath she'd been holding. She wasn't sure why he was choosing not to speak, but she was grateful to have received any sort of answer from him at all. For a moment she'd been certain that he was going to leave her in the uncomfortable purgatory of not knowing. To her surprise, his next move was not to ask any sort of follow-up question or to introduce himself. Instead, he turned away from her as if to leave, and then gestured matter of factly for her to follow.

Reason demanded that she resist, if only so that she could learn his name first, but something else drove her forward; and so with a little wrinkle of worry in her brow, the slender tobiano mare followed after him. Despite having lived on Tinuvel her entire life, and the long-standing alliance between the Cove and the Bay, Kohelet had never traveled this far into the Bay before. She wasn't sure what sort of terrain lay ahead of them, and it occurred to her that he could just be leading her into some sort of trap.

Still, he hadn't done anything to hurt her yet, and she couldn't deny that she was curious where he wanted to take her. Nor could she deny that there was some sort of pull that made her want to follow along behind him, if only because she wanted to hold his attention for just a little longer.

They walked in silence for a few steps, each one taken carefully with a hyper-awareness of just how close his hip was to her shoulder. She couldn't tell if it was her imagination or if she could really feel his body warmth from this close, but she found herself wondering what would happen if she was just bold enough to reach out and run her muzzle along the ridge of his flank. Even with the weak sunlight from above, his coat gleamed with highlights that were stark against the plush darkness of his coat.

The mere thought made her blush.

And yet, once the thought had occurred to her, she couldn't stop thinking it either. And so, in a rare show of boldness that took her own breath away, Kohelet stretched her dark muzzle out and pressed it ever so quickly against the moving wall of flesh at her side and then pulled back.

"I didn't catch your name," she elaborated, umber eyes fixed on his face for a reaction. "I'm Kohelet, from the Cove." She took another few steps after him before prompting him for an answer, ears pricked alertly forward. "What's your name?"