She did not talk how he imagined Favala would. She spoke as if she wasn't there to see him, but why else would she appear to him? He was confused. There was a chance the heat and loneliness had gotten to his head as it had his body. Was she only a mirage? He had the urge to reach out to see if she was real, but he held himself back. There were repercussions for his actions and touching a stranger could get him whacked. Touching a goddess without permission could get him condemned to hell forever.

"It was not my intention to insult you." Favala would never act this way to a disciple. "I have mistaken you for someone else." Her attitude, her flare. It was not the Kind Favala he had been told about since sucking his mother's teet. His body tightened with the realization this mare might be a hostile in his home, but he had no reason to chase her out. A soft breeze picked up her scent and guided to his nosetrils. She smelt of the sea, fresh from her swim to Salem. He wondered where she had come from and why she would pick this island to visit.

It could as simple as she hated the snow. Cap's wirey frame did not favor snow and he would rather the sweat pooled on his skin than frozen water hang from his coat. The frosted chestnut kept his posture straight and to attention in her presence from then on. Her voice rose to his ears and her question did not surprise him. "This place was empty when I arrived and it remains empty after my arrival. You are the first to pass through these sands since I took claim to them." There was the faint smell of others on the wind at times, but in his weeks here he had yet to see any form of life.