Cerosi was taken aback by the pale stallion’s question, and for a moment her ears flicked back. She wondered why he would ask that, but then reconsidered her wording. It had sounded like he was dead in the way she phrased her memories of him. Still, it took her a second to recover from the affronting question, and she remained just a tad bristly when she responded. "Might as well be," she said with a shrug. "He sold me into a cult when I was a filly. It messed me up." She looked him up and down, the memories of the stallions of her past making Ironclad seem like an angel in comparison. Any remaining anger toward his question dissolved. "Honestly, I’m lucky to have met someone like you, now. You’re the… third stallion, I think, I’ve interacted with since coming here. Everyone has been civil, if not outright kind. So, thank you for not treating me horribly." She shot him a smile, dry but genuine. "Every friendly face counts."

Even though her body wanted to tense up and prepare for the worst, it was getting easier to ignore the alarm bells in her head as Ironclad inched closer. She had gotten a hold on the wild scenarios that spiralled through her mind, and since her escape she had let her freedom get to her head. Cerosi was almost cocky at this point in her assurance that nothing bad could happen again, and it was beginning to make her stupid; though hopefully Ironclad wasn’t the type to take advantage. In her boldness, Cerosi took a step forward of her own, until their noses were almost touching, though he was quite a bit taller. The scent of the alpine territory that lingered on him was pleasant, almost enticing. If she did not feel she owed Cain for his generosity, she might have tried to provoke the young stallion into a play fight or a chase; something to get just a little bit more of his attention, which she found herself enjoying.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) the opportunity passed after Cerosi asked if she should bow. Ironclad laughed, which was refreshing; she had been somewhat worried he would be offended by her joke. She listened as the pale colt unleashed a flood of questions, and for a moment she had to process them in silence.

"Well," she began, "I’ve only been in the Desert, and yes, it’s very hot. But there’s more water there than you’d think, if you know where to find it, and the desert grass isn’t so bad once you get used to it." Next, the question of why she was here. "Honestly, it was getting too hot," she said with a chuckle. "I’m not built to be super comfortable in heat like Salem in summer." She paused now to think about what Ironclad had said about Cain. It didn’t seem like the tobiano stallion to bad-mouth anybody but himself.

She cocked her head thoughtfully, looking up at Ironclad again. "I haven’t known Cain for very long, but he’s been very honest about his past and the mistakes he made. It sounds like he used to be not a very good character. But since I’ve known him, he’s been very honorable, and trying to be a better person in general. Maybe that was before he had decide to get his act together?" She hoped this was the case. In the little time she had spent with Cain, she had grown to like him, and admired him for his honesty. It made her sad to think about that time of his life still affecting the way people saw him, but she supposed that was the price of past mistakes. At least he was trying now.

"Well, your turn," she said, changing the subject. She stepped forward once again, walking around him a circle this time, like a cat circling a mouse - if the mouse was much taller than the cat. "Tell me about Tinuvel. Have you ever explored the other islands? Are the winters here terrible? Is your dad dead?" She accompanied the last question with another cheeky grin, emboldened by his question earlier and his response to her initial sass. Hopefully her jest would not cause any more offense than Ironclad’s had.