She was only left alone for a little while before a beckoning call drifted through the air and toward her. Encelia, far too used to letting herself be ignored, did not initially react to the call. Her assumption was that whoever was making noise was making it toward someone else, not her; someone bolder, more inviting, or simply more interesting. It wasn’t until she noticed the steady approach of an individual that she realized the call had actually been for her.
Her long neck lifted sharply, large eyes wide as she appraised the young stallion coming near her. Her long, pale lashes fluttered as she blinked them a few, quick times, staring at him the way a nervous doe might. Encelia supposed he was attractive, if she were to let herself ponder those sort of things; the dapples on his gray-brown coat seemed to glimmer beneath the sunlight, and the wispy tendrils of his silvery mane contrasted the dark points of his body in an intriguing way. He was far more interesting to look at than she was, that was certain.
So why was he approaching her?
He came to a halt with significant distance between them, enough they could talk, but not encroaching on her personal space. Encelia was still too surprised he’d stopped near her at all and was looking directly at her to be touched by his gentlemanly approach. Her small golden ears perked toward him, every muscle on her body taut as though to warn that she was ready to instantly flee at the slightest act of aggression. Even her lithe figure leaned somewhat toward the not-so-distant sea.
But he did not act rude or cruel at all. The young stallion smiled at her (at her?) before he apologized. Encelia’s body slowly relaxed back into where she stood and a slightly puzzled look took the place of the nervous one that’d been across her face before. “It’s, um, it’s okay,” she replied, and hated how small and quiet her voice was. She could feel her heartbeat pounding away in her chest and thought it was so stupid how anxious she was at the bare minimum of a conversation with a stranger.
“I’m Encelia,” she replied when he gave his name - Canis - and she floundered briefly, unsure what she was supposed to say or do next to keep him here with her, wondering if she even should try to keep him here with her. Surely he had better things to do!
“Um… this is my first time leaving home,” stupid girl, she shouldn’t have admitted that to a stranger. She felt shame crawl through her stomach, thinking how disappointed her father would surely be in her right now. “I’m from the Badlands, on Salem-” she offered, unable to keep herself from babbling the rest of what she’d wanted to say out loud. Any minute now she expected Canis to excuse himself and be rid of her company. Encelia wouldn’t blame him one bit.
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