It was after he stepped forward that the scent on his pelt met her nostrils: the Lagoon. The steps he'd taken caused the air to eddy from around him and join the cool breeze that kissed her sooty gold skin. Cream strands of her mane twisted in the breeze, brushing against the white marking that traced down her throat. Unlike many wiser mares and otherwise scorned individuals, the scent did not make her balk or react any more negatively than the twist of an ear or the shifting of her weight.
Dior had grown up in the Lagoon. Her mother had been a trinket then, though she didn't know that. The tobiano looked fondly on her childhood spent in the swamps and capes, exploring the small islands in the Lagoon's private bay with her mother and later her little sister. Her father Diomedes had been so big and strong in her eyes. He'd kept them safe. Dior had known there were other adults there, mostly men, but it had been normal for her. She hadn't known fear until her father had driven them to run, until he'd been struck down and moved no more.
'Only momentarily,' he had said, To sate the curiosity by asking what you’re searching for?' The golden hue of her gaze does not leave his shape. She traces the white of his blaze to where it rouges his lips as she deliberates answering him. For a moment, she considered the fact that she didn't have to answer. The memory of her father's death at the hooves of a Lagoon bachelor hummed a warning to her. Then Dior allowed a deep, shuddering breath to flutter her pale nostrils before shifting her weight again, unsure that she should say anything further.
Despite the warning in her heart, Dior does answer. "My mother.. and my sister." Something within her had been stirred by the memory of her father, encouraged by the longing she felt for the company of her family and the loneliness and frustration that had been mounting for over a year. Deep down, Dior wanted someone to fix her problems and fill the gaps her self-doubt had carved away. "We used to live in the Harbor," she told him hesitantly, "but now I don't know where they've gone." Her openness to this stranger astounded her, and Dior held herself back from revealing anything further.