’I know where they are, Cahyr.’ The sound of his name on her lips brings him more pleasure than it should. A smile ghosts across his charcoal-dusted lips for a brief moment before disappearing once again beneath the working mask of indifference. He should feel irritation at the cleverly leveled response to his inquisition. He should pin his ears backward and lift his young muzzle in displeasure. He should flash anger in his blue-green eyes as his lips curl backward in the practiced sneer at the confidence that wavers in her voice… but he doesn’t.

A single fluted lobe twitches amid the mass of cream and white tresses that crest his brow in awkward angles. Lithe hooves shift beneath him, causing the soggy earth beneath him to squelch in protest at the shifting of his weight. ”Well, if you know where they are… then my question goes unanswered…” he purrs, his graveled voice thing with what he hopes is interpreted as charm.

He takes a cautious step forward, one hoof and then the other, pausing only when her weight shifts as though she intends to flee. He is far from satisfied with her company enough to risk her losing him among the dense shrubbery or maze of stone canyons that make up the borders nearest the badlands. ”I can’t promise not to bother you if you can’t tell me…” he breathes, his tones dropping in octave as he stretches his muzzle towards her, nostrils fluttering greedily as he inhales her sweet, unfamiliar scent. ”why you are here..” he finishes, hoping that his unpracticed flirtation leaves some sort of lasting impression on the pretty painted buckskin mare. Couldn’t learn if he didn’t practice now could he?.

CAHYR

firebringer son of the Desert sands