Common

Though gruff, Temblor's answer melts away the tension that had stiffened her muscles and she took a deep breath of relief. Of course, just because he didn't know Rougaru personally did not make Temblor a good horse with sound morals, but it did count as a rather large mark in his favor.

"That is good to hear," she answers honestly, a small smile rising on her lips once more. The return volley of her question is not unexpected, but it did dim her expression slightly. "He is an enemy of my family," she said quietly, unsure if she should elaborate further. She hadn't come here with the purpose of enumerating Rougaru's sins to a stranger, but to answer so simply felt like it was understating the gravity of the crimes the silver-maned stallion had committed. Instead of elaborating, she simply drew another breath in, squared her shoulders, and lifted her head. If he was gone, he was gone, and she had no choice but to take Temblor's word for it unless she went and found out for herself.

Aware of the awkwardness lurking at the edges of the conversation, looking for a way in, she gestured slightly toward the silver stallion, almost as if shaking off the remainder of her earlier tension. "So tell me, is Atlantis as beautiful as they say?" She found the questions all bubbling up as she spoke of her old musings about the jungle island and they tumbled out of her mouth one after the other. "Are there really flowers as large as a horse's head there? And is there really no snow at all?"

The stories she'd heard of the jungle island had been gleaned in snippets from her father and Cicek and her sisters that had been raised in the Ridge, and were entirely anecdotal. Her father had paid little attention to the scenery, Cicek didn't like to speak of it much, and Maggie spent all her time talking about the flowers and the wildcats. They all fed her just enough to feed her curiosity without ever truly sating it, and she couldn't deny that a part of her wondered what it might be like to go with Temblor to see it for herself.

There was a risk in going with him, of course. Shiloh was not oblivious to the dangers that came with accompanying a stranger to their home territory without notifying her family, but how else was she ever going to find her place in the world? Even if the land in question was the possibly ex-home of her family's old enemy. Tempering her eagerness, Shiloh cautioned herself against stepping too far ahead; she didn't even know if he would even invite her back, and even assuming that he was even interested seemed preposterous.

"I'm sorry," she murmured a moment later, her cheeks flushing. She chuckled in a self-deprecating way and dipped her head. "I didn't mean to bombard you with questions... I've always wanted to see it for myself but because of, well, because of Rougaru," she frowned, half-apologetic for bringing him up again, "I was never able to before."