"Thank you," she murmured softly to her goddess, her gaze rising back to the heavens that stretched above. Somewhere above her, she knew that Etheria was looking down at her with a smile for finally having found her home. It had taken more years than Arael had ever counted own, but she was grateful all the same.

Movement in the periphery of her vision catches her eye and she orients to the pretty young mare as she makes her way over, a gentile smile spreading across her peach lips. She did not know this mare, but she had seen her around often enough and had watched the way she carried herself. This painted stranger was the embodiment of the confidence that Arael lacked, and while a part of her envied her this surety, the rest of her was simply content to acknowledge that there were others in this herd that were better suited to leadership than herself.

"Hello," the diminutive mare answers, a shy smile of hope spreading across her lips. Up close, the tobiano mare was even prettier than she had been at a distance. It was perhaps unfair of Arael to compare this young woman to the self-assured queen of the Shore, but they both had such an air of command that it was hard not to. Arael had always assumed that Xiomara had come into hers by might alone. Considering how hard it had been to pierce the mare's tough exterior, and that Xiomara's entire figure had been honed for combat readiness, it had seemed like a logical conclusion.

This girl, however, did not have the air of a seasoned warrior. Rather, she seemed to come by it naturally, although Arael could only guess at how that may be. In a way, she reminded Arael of her daughter. Both seemed to naturally exude the sort of confidence that the paling pony mare could only dream of.

"Etheria's blessings to you, Medusa. My name is Arael," she offered warmly, and extended her muzzle for an exchange of breaths. The young Queen's question gives Arael pause as she tries to figure out whether she was truly a new arrival, or simply a ghost that had forgotten her manners. "In a way, I suppose. I should have introduced myself sooner." Her lips curve in a soft, apologetic smile. "I lived with Queen Xiomara in the Shore until King Ironclad requested that I join him some time ago."

The mere memory of the fact that Ironclad had singled her out of the entire span of Queen Xiomara's herd still made her entire being fill with warmth. She did not know what she had done to earn the King's eye, but it still brought her great joy to remember it.

"Have you lived here long, Medusa?" She imagined that the answer was yes, considering how comfortable she seemed amongst the heather, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.