The maze of trees and twisting vines is mesmerizing. Even to her inexperienced eye, Ayiana knows that there is danger in stepping off the path. The darkness of the jungle could swallow her up and take years before she might ever be able to find her way back to the shores of the beach again even if she walked day and night for weeks on end. The task that she laid upon her heart seemed more and more impossible as she stared into the dark shadows. Had this been what happened to her family? Were they lost in the jungle somewhere and that was why she had not been able to find hide nor hair of them? The air felt suffocatingly thick, the humidity and bright sunshine darkening her skin and causing her to exhale a deep breath that she is sure she will never be able to catch again.

She takes a single timid step towards the oppressing shadows when the deep baritone voice rumbles above the rushing sound of the waves behind her. Thoughts of the dense jungle before her disappear as her skin prickles. Had she been found out? She was trespassing after all, even if she was still on the beach. This was not Luthien and it was not the Prairie. There was no mother or Darshan here to save her now from the reprimanding teeth of a guardian or lead stallion. She just knew that the voice that called out now was who that was.

Ears fall backwards as her small muzzle drops submissively. Slender neck arches elegantly as she turns her dished face to let dark eyes fall upon the one who had discovered her. He does not scream in rage or approach with teeth gnashing or hooves flying. Instead, he stands still, his proud head angled towards her with small ears perked amid the tumbles of his own silver whtie mane. He was strangely colored, with splotches of dark and light patterns here and there along his rump and shoulders. Small golden ears perk forward curiously as timidly she lifts her own muzzle and releases a gentle tenor of her own, her thick silver plume flicking back and forth against her hips in what she hoped was a friendly manner. Dark eyes blink against the bright sunlight as slowly, cautiously, she steps towards him, her gait prancing and graceful as the coiled arch of her neck. ”Hello….” she stammers, her voice gentle but what she hoped to be friendly. ”Are you the… um… leader here?” She is not quite sure what kind of answer she hopes for but perhaps she might discover and answer of some kind nonetheless.