Whatever measure of self-assurance she has disappears. The moment the red stallion appears and approaches their hostile stand-off with calculated movements, her cautious demeanor turns suspicious. Raven-tipped ears tilt backwards, disappearing beneath the wind-swept curls of her obsidian mane. For a moment, silver eyes drift from the dark stallion still standing between herself and Ashteroth and focus solely upon the newcomer. Ashen nostrils flare, inhaling the stagnant reminants of salt water from his dried coat. Like the stranger, he held no recognition in her eyes but ‘viper’ resounded deep within her mind nonetheless.

tHe strange, unfamiliar lilt of his words does him no favor in gaining her trust. Fluted ears pitch forward and back in confusion as she tries in vain to decipher the words but to no avail. What she did gather was the cocky reassurance in his voice, regardless of how level and unchanging he tried to maintain it. A cockiness that immediately infuriated her, igniting the simmering fires that coursed through her veins. Muscles tense beneath her rose dappled coat as Khar’pern shifts her position, angling her hind quarters away from the russet beast as much to keep herself from lashing out at his nearness as to allow her better access should he try to rush towards her.

Her unwelcome companion speaks. This time, though still tainted by the unfamiliar lilt of his foerign language, the words are recognizable. Try as she might, Khar’pern cannot hide the flash of disgust that slides across her lips. Yes of course they were the same species, as much as she hated to admit, but that did not mean she had to like it. As far as she was concerned, they could not be any more different than a beautiful butterfly and a fly circling a rotting carcass. Maybe that was why these two strangers caused the fur along her spine to stand on edge… they reminded her too much of the fly. ’You allow no stallions here?’ a question that she would gladly have answered with a lie if only it meant that these two would disappear back into the abyss from which they have come. Yet before she or Ashteroth can speak, it is the intruder who breaks the rising tension.

Now it is the dark stallion’s turn to speak. As with the unexpected stranger, he too shares a private conversation in their foreign tongue. The annoyance that follows his words draw a feral growl from deep within her breast, a sound that only her closed lips manages to muffle. He turns his feral, amber eyes upon them now, glancing first to her and then to the roan mare who addressed his presence first. Like the red beast still fixed tightly in her peripheral vision, the dark stallion turns to common tongue. However despite the annoyed expression on his features only a few moments ago, the words that come from his lips as calm and gentle, reminding her of a mother trying to console a child with a valuable life lesson. It caused her skin to itch. Moon-dappled shoulders twitch, the sleek hairs shuddering beneath the force of her agitation. Obsidian hooves shift beneath her as the mare tried to keep herself grounded. So far, the stallions were being… amicable. She would not be the one to draw first blood.

Like a seasoned leader, Ashteroth takes point in this conversation, stepping up to fill the gap of silence the stallions questions leave hanging in the air. Only now does Khar’s raven tipped ears flip forward, the grim, dour expression on her face softening into something more akin to pride and respect. Long, dark tail is given an idle flick as Khar’pern takes a confident step forward, her long neck coiling tightly as her icy gaze once more hardens on the dark beast. A malicious smile curves across her ashen features. ”Of course… we do prefer to keep our captives alive. If that is the road you wish to take this day.” she purrs, her own voice even and deliberate in it’s delivery.