Ivanna does not have to wait long in the humid Lagoon, her ears filled with the steady drone of insect life. Scarce moments pass before two figures arrive, clearly involved in some sort of intimate conversation. Their body language reminds her distantly of Verrat and Kalayani, although she cannot name why her mind makes such a quick connection to these vastly different creatures. There is no hurry to the way they walk, as self-assured as any creature she has ever met. This benign approach is all that keeps her pale hooves planted in the soil, her pale blue eyes wide with trepidation as they settle.

Unease slithers through her musculature and she shifts her weight, her gleaming bronze coat twitching as the full weight of their gazes settle on her like a slow one-two punch. She wants to turn tail and run, to dig her pale hooves into the loamy earth and spring back to the safety of her newfound family in the Prairie, but she does not. Somewhere in this moss-draped land, Verrat might still lurk, and more than anything now, she wanted to see him again. She cannot name why her desire is so strong, whether it comes from the bead of friendship she had felt developing between them, or a desperate desire to recapture the lightness she had felt in those summer months. Before her fear and doubt had crippled her light heart and wrapped chains of self-loathing around it.

The young mare cannot name the monster lurking under her bed at the moment, or why every bone in her body trembles at their nearness and she seeks refuge in the sudden friendliness of the older stallion's smile. Her own pale lips curve upward in a nervous, fluttering smile in answer. "I-" She stuttered in reply to his question, distracted by the way the younger stallion had begun to caress Cullen's hip. There had been a subtleness to their connection before - a yearning in the way their bodies oriented around each other that had allowed her mind to equate it to the dance of stallion and mare. But now their connection was more obvious, and her brow furrowed in anxiousness at the realization she'd fumbled her way into some private conversation. As the self-assured stallion spoke again, her gaze flicked nervously back to him and she swallowed.

"I-i am, yes." She finally manages, but quickly falls quiet as the second stallion speaks. He pleas for the older male to not bother her with their problems and something in her softens. The white-knuckled grip that had held tight to her nerves begins to loosen, and true curiosity sparks in her eyes in tandem with an innate desire to help. "What is wrong? Is-is there something I can do to help you?"

She has not forgotten her desire to see Verrat. It sits in her mind like a popcorn shell between her teeth, something she cannot forget. However, there is no urgency to her quest. She could easily come for Verrat later, or even use these nice stallions to help her find him later. Their implied need, coupled with her desire to help someone, and to be wanted or needed (or even a little bit cherished) is not something she can turn down easily. It has been a long time since she has been of use to someone in any meaningful way, and the prospect of being so now is tantalizing.

Flicking the dark strands of her tail, she orients back to the younger stallion at his offer with an inquisitive tilt of her head. She had not set out today with the intention of bunking down somewhere other than the Prairie, given that she had intended for this to be a simple day trip. Her ears, near hidden in the unruly strands of her thick mane, flick forward and back uncertainly. "Oh, um, I don't know." Put on the spot, she struggles to find an appropriate excuse for defaulting back to politeness. "I wouldn't want to impose."

Ivanna