Meadow

It was soothing, the habitual recitation which was as familiar to her as the back of her own hoof. The more it flowed smoothly from her pink lips her heart rate slowed in response, her breathing becoming steady as she fell into the list of names for the heavenly patters which painted the sky above her. The inky blackness punctuated with such shimmering lights, on a night like tonight with no moon to dull their light they were clearer than ever. It was almost like being back in her birthplace under the seemingly endless sky of the desert. Here there were trees and mountains in the distance, but in this meadow there was enough sky for her to feel at home once more.

Despite her preoccupation with the oration she had been performing since her infancy, she was still in a new place and her body was on higher alert than normal. The approach of another warranted a flick of her alabaster ear, pausing her speech as she turned her crystalline eyes toward the approaching figure. Her gaze is curious and friendly, the emotions written openly on her face as the silver haired mare pauses at a comfortable distance. Shifting her stance towards her new companion, Zarya’s painted face still remained slightly tilted towards the beckoning sky as if she could not bear to be parted from it just yet. As Rivaini’s soft voice filled the quiet night around them the white-splashed girl returned the soft smile, one which only grew as she expressed interest in the names which she had been recalling so faithfully.

Her angular face nodded eagerly, pausing as the Andalusian seemed to recall herself, giving her name and introduction quickly. “My name is Zarya, I just arrived here earlier today.” Her own voice was gentle, lilted with the desert accent of her home. This was quite possibly the first time she had ever met a stranger, let along had to introduce herself. She had been sheltered, kept, and looked after by family of one kind of another every day of her life… how exhilarating it was to meet someone who did not know her. “And yes, not all of them are visible right now as they come and go depending on time and season… but I know them all.” Her soft words turn wistful as she cannot resist her eyes turning back toward the night sky for one moment.

Letting them drift back down to what she hoped was her new friend, naïve as it may be to think such a thing after barely exchanging only a handful of words, she cannot resist inquiring about what would draw her out into the night. “You are from here, yes? What brings you here at such a late hour?” Zaryra was a creature of the night by trade and love of her celestial counterparts, but it was not the norm for their species she had learned. She could also smell sea on the bay’s coat, but the underlying scent of rock and tree seemed to mark a place she would call home and it could not be far from here for as fresh as it lay on her.