Falls

He hesitates, but she does not waver nor rescind the invitation, only waits patiently as if she knows what his answer must be. The horses on the isles are afraid, she has come to understand. They think they are afraid of the monsters that go bump in the night, and of the futures they do not wish to see made real. But more than that, they are afraid of who they are, of what they want. They hesitate just as much to do something that calls to them as they do when they do the things they must do but do not want to do.

It will not matter in the long run if the handsome stranger takes her offer. She will continue to dance throughout her life, refusing to be afraid, and he shall make his own choices that will lead him down his own path. All that she offered in this moment is a chance to be together for one brief pinpoint in time, to share in an experience that could have as much or as little of an effect upon him as he wished.

"Your secrets are safe with me," she promises with no change of expression, the small smile still curving on her cherubic lips, her eyes still dark as coffee. Whether it is the lure of the dance or the promise she offered, something propels him into a dance and she watches with that same inscrutable expression as he begins. It is not as elegant as her own at the start, but for all of that, it tells a journey that was unique to him, mapping out the moments where his confidence grew and he hesitated less.

By the time he was done, her smirk had grown into a smile and she sauntered a few steps forward, lashing the white strands of her tail over her haunches as they glowed almost incandescent in the slanting light. "Again," she murmured, darting close to him to try and bump her muzzle against his neck before leaping into action. Like a deer, she bounded forward, attempting to lead him in a chase before taking a step to the side and pirouetting, attempting to give him a chance to lead them.

There was no music in the air, but that did not matter. The song lived in the very marrow of her bones, as much a part of her as were her heart and lungs and mind.