A R I T H E N A
FOR WHEN THE SUN LEAVES, THE WORLD FEARS YOU
She was wondering what his response would be, awaiting it with a curious expression. Her eyes were round and doe-like as she watched the stallion, glimmering like amethysts as in the gloom. Perhaps she ought to have been afraid of him. He was a total stranger after all. And this was a strange place, maybe a place where good horses did not exist. It certainly seemed that way, if you judged the Rift solely on appearances. But Aedion, gruff as he was, seemed kind enough, and Arithena was not too concerned that he posed a threat to her. After all, he’d offered to take her wherever she wanted to go, and they’d only just met. There weren’t many horses the girl had met before that would be so quick to offer something like that without wanting something in return. And yet he did not ask. If he had, she wasn’t sure what she would’ve given him. Certainly not her lotus flower, her most prized possession that Gran, her foalhood caretaker, had given Ari as a gift long ago.
Apparently Aedion found her description of the Rift to be quite amusing, for it caused him to tip back his head, a resonant laugh emitting from deep within his chest. She frowned slightly, ears flattening to her skull, despite knowing that what she’d said probably sounded pretty stupid. She was less angry at him for laughing, and more annoyed at herself for not thinking the words through before letting them reach his ears. Following his brief moment of mirth, he seemed to calm himself and regain his composure, as if he’d just remembered that there were matters to attend to. He welcomed her once more, although it felt strange to think of the Rift as her home. For one, she’d never really settled down anywhere before, and second, she’d only been here for what felt like a few moments. A bit too soon to be labelling the Rift as such. A soft “Thank you,” was all she could manage, trying her best to give a polite response. Her gaze followed Aedion’s, drifting toward the path, whose shape was faintly outlined by two rows of luminescent plants. She wondered where it led. The stallion began to speak again, bringing her attention back to the present. She figured it was important to listen to what he had to say about the Rift, and so she did. Any information would be useful, and Aedion was likely chock-full of it.
Clearly Aedion hadn’t forgotten her little slip up. He was all too quick to allude to her labelling of the Rift as ‘charming,’ shooting a playful grin in her direction. He wove it in to his words in a subtle fashion, as if she wasn’t supposed to know it was there. Had she not felt awfully silly about describing the Rift as such, she might not have ever noticed that he’d added in the last statement purposefully. Was he mocking her? She averted his gaze, her response was not to join in his jest but rather to let out an unamused “Hmph.” Charming. Remind her never to use that word.
She didn’t know how well she liked this fellow just yet, much less how long she would want him to stick around for. Ari certainly didn’t like being made fun of, however, she made no retort and simply waited for him to continue. Waited for him to hopefully forget all about whatever it was that he found so funny. The mare supposed that horses around here did not have pleasant descriptors in their vocabulary. She could tell by the looks of this forest that they mustn’t have had the need for them. But maybe the Rift contained regions that would prove her wrong. “That sounds close enough to the place I had in mind.” She responded politely, despite being not entirely sure that it was. There didn’t seem to be any harm in seeing what the Pinnacle was, even if it wasn’t suited to her tastes. Honestly, she couldn’t wait to be out of the cold, unwelcoming darkness. Her spirits needed to recover. “I’m ready to go whenever you are, if you’d be so kind as to lead the way.”
<3
The Portal
