Off the edge of the map

The silence that followed seemed much longer than it probably was. Erthë waited with mounting tension for a reply, but when long moments had passed and none were offered, the little mare snorted and turned away, more disappointed than she wished to let off. She was never sure what exactly she wanted from Rikyn. From the moment they first met they had been at odds with one another, chafing and battering one another like two cogs out of sync, polar opposites doomed to repel rather than attract. Yet somehow they kept bumping into each other and every time Erthë found herself prodding the stallion for weak spots, teasing and prodding as if searching for... what? Weak spots? Good sides? Some small silver lining to his thundercloud that might make him worth her time? She wasn't sure, and it annoyed her to be looking for them, as much as it worried her that she found several and refrained from pushing them.

What did it say about her, and about him? What had they even been to each other, in the past?

For now, she almost regretfully had to consider them as enemies. At least for the time being, at least until she knew whether his complacency against Kaos was a threat to her and her plans...

Erthë shook her head as she walked away from the stallion, off into the unknown. It was such a shame that they would never be more than strangers.