Common

The silvered stallion recounts his own story without hesitation and she finds herself drawn in by the picture he paints. She cannot imagine facing down something as terrible as a mudslide; it seems even more ferocious than the bitterest of winter storms on Tinuvel. Most of the dangers of her homeland were gradual: frostbite, hypothermia, starvation. Few things were as sudden as what he described and she could not hide the shiver that raced down her spine at the thought of being helpless to save herself.

"That sounds terrifying," Shiloh offered with a shake of her head and a playful curling of her lips. "But I'm sure anyone - even earth herself - would recognize that a victory against you was something worth celebrating." Which felt like flirting, but was also objectively true. Even for as much as Shiloh believed in her father's prowess and strength, he would almost certainly appear small if compared side by side with this stallion.

"Nice to meet you Temblor, I'm Shiloh." She was quick to answer him, an easy smile still on her lips. Her gaze brightened at the mention of Atlantis. She had always wanted to travel there and had dreamed of someday seeing what a jungle truly looked like, but it had been forbidden after the troubles with Rougaru began in earnest. It's too dangerous, Shy, her father would protest with a frown. Xio can't be everywhere and Rougaru wouldn't hesitate to hurt you. Better safe than sorry, kiddo.

"Paradise?" Concern had replaced her easy friendliness and her gaze swept over him again, trying to reconcile this massive gray stallion with the beast she'd been warned about for most of her childhood. Was he a sub lead beneath Rougaru? A new arrival? An enemy - and if so, of who? She swallowed the majority of her questions, painfully aware of her own awkwardness in this situation. She wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt; he hadn't behaved at all like the monster she'd been told of, but she could still hear her father's warnings ringing in her mind.

"I'm from Tinuvel," she began, her expression settled on his face so that she didn't miss one bit of his reaction. "The Cove, specifically." When that alone didn't give rise to the reaction she was expecting, she drew in a steadying breath and then dove into the more important questions; the ones that would tell her if she was just wasting her time or not. "Pardon me for asking," she said, her voice only wavering a little bit. "But who is Rougaru to you?"

Shiloh would not become another Vihar. She'd seen what that worry had done to her father and she had no intention of following in her sister's footsteps, nor could she stomach the thought of her mother worrying over where she had gone and why.