Perhaps some part of her had been vaguely aware of his presence, but she had been too focused on the feeling of her mother's presence to acknowledge it. For some time, it had felt like she was not entirely a part of the world. Instead, she had been between worlds, teetering on the veil between here and now, and then and there.
It was only when he spoke that she truly returned to his world. It took her a moment to catch up with the world, her eyes watching him closely as she slowly mulled over what she had missed. She had been rude, hadn't she? Had she been entirely present, she might have reciprocated his invitation to play, but she had been too caught up in her own memories. Still, he was a stranger, and a stallion at that. Vesna made no effort in hiding her awareness of that, always with a lingering suspicion in her eyes even as she straightened and grinned.
"My game, not so much. I was caught up in a memory," she replied with a small nod. Then, she looked up at the sky once more, as if she hadn't really noticed it until then. An ear flicked, agitated by her own ignorance. Vesna had been too caught up in her own games, memories and the beauty of the meadows that she had seemingly forgotten that such clouds seldom carried good news with them. The moment he had reminded her of that, the skin over her shoulder twitched, remembering the bite of the snow.
"Shelter? I've a lonely tree by the falls if that counts as such." She smirked and chuckled at herself, then turned to him fully. Vesna did not have a particularly hard face, but she had a hard gaze - probing, intense, with eyes almost as dark as the night sky itself. When she searched Ailill's face, her intentions were clear. Vesna searched for ulterior motive and lie alike, only letting out a small hm of thought when she was sure she hadn't seen any indications of either.
"The way you speak makes me think you know of a better place, though." Vesna still stood apart, clearly standing on the edge of suspicion, but she was trying at least. She had been alone for a long while, and even though she had been raised among so many other strangers, she hadn't been raised a fool by any means.
vesna.