She's remained confined to Pangea since her adventure in the meadow. She hadn’t told anyone what had happened. What she’d done.  But she’d been experimenting with any number theories following her return.  Unfortunately, it seemed that Pangea’s foliage wasn’t immune to her touch either. She’d slept tucked up next to an acacia tree and even that didn’t seem immune, for the branches were bleached and discolored.  Living still, but changed.

So she’d secluded herself here, for a time, even though she itched with the desire to explore.  However today, it seemed she didn’t need to breach Pangea’s borders to find something new.  She had tracked the green and gold boy as he crossed the border of her home - venturing deeper into the canyonlands. When it was clear he had no intention of stopping, she took a shortcut through the parched landscape to intercept this stranger.

“Who are you?” she asks, simply, when their paths finally cross.  Anomaly is not blessed with advanced social graces, having been raised in isolation for the majority of her young life.  So she doesn’t immediately offer an introduction of her own.

”Are you lost? Or looking for someone?” she asks, for in the very least he looks lost. She doesn’t recognize him and she’s spent her entire life shielded by these canyons.  Her eyes glow vividly as she draws to a halt a safe distance from the stranger.

Anomaly watched him curiously.  He had certainly appeared lost. There weren’t many that were brave enough to wander freely in these lands. But she hasn’t quite ascertained whether or not this stranger is brave or foolish. Or perhaps both.

”I figured you might be lost. Normally newcomers wait at the border. It’s…” she pauses for a moment, searching for the right word. ”...safer,” is the word she settles on. And it was true. Those who were loyal to Pangea had nothing to fear here. But outsiders?  Outsiders could easily be misinterpreted as prey.  This boy was lucky that at this moment only one full-blooded monster roams Pangea. But the otherworldy are not the only thing strangers need to be wary of here.

”Welcome then, I suppose. I’m Anomaly,” she offers.  Anomaly would have found his thoughts on Pangea amusing. Before her birth this land had been desolate. Now this land was thriving.  And she felt quite an affinity with this place.

”I’ve never seen the Cove. What’s it like?” she asks, curiously. She’s spent so little time outside Pangea she’s curious about the neighboring lands...and what drew Nolin here.

It was clear from his nonchalant manner that Nolin didn’t understand just how dangerous crossing the border to Pangea had been. She knew that her mother’s creatures - Pangea’s guardians - would not distinguish between friend and foe. They would stop to listen to an explanation. But she was glad she had intercepted first before someone or something discovered him here.  He would be safe now that he’d decided to stay here.

She cocks her head slightly as he speaks - trying to conjure an image of the Cove in her mind but failing to truly bring it to life.  She wonders, for a moment, what he means by noisy.  She’d never seen a waterfall - never heard the volume of roaring waters.  She was curious, though, and made a note to visit sometime. “It sounds nice,” she offered, politely.

Life in Pangea was focused around the river and the canyons that surrounded it.  But unlike the rest of Pangea, the river was relatively tame as it meandered through the sandstone.  Outside of the canyons, a large portion of the landscape was barren.  Inhospitable to most, but not to the grey and black filly. This land would always be her home.  And she knew better than most that there was life hidden in the most unlikely of places. Especially here. Pangea was filled with secrets, which suited the girl just fine. Because like this land - she was also filled with secrets.

And was far more dangerous than she appeared.

He mentions that his mother had once ruled here, and that piques her interest. Because it was her mother that ruled Pangea now - and had since before she was born. “Who was your mother?” she asks, genuinely curious if she knows of her.  “I’ve lived in Pangea my whole life - maybe I know her,” she adds, in way of explanation.

“Pangea is harsh, but beautiful. The river breathes life into the land and when the wind is right the canyon sings,” the reverence is clear in her voice.  She was truly born of this land - born from its founder and its ruler - and her appreciation for her kingdom was obvious.