[open] aint nothing better when the wind runs cold

[Valdr]

He’s asked enough strangers to be sure that this is Beqanna, but it is a far different place than the land he had visited before. Most of his time had been spent in the Meadow and Valley, but the once-familiar rolling hills had drowned beneath the waves. Or so says the local gossip, if the word of strangers can be trusted.

The ridge that Valdr stands upon is comprised mostly of broken stone, and the footing is unstable. It is the highest vantage point in the Ruins though, and his sky heart appreciates the view. The land that stretches out around him is lit by the late afternoon sun, but even the warm spring light does little to brighten the barren place. Scrub brush and bare earth, a place that looks as desolate as the Illumni Plains of old.

Valdr is obvious anywhere, but he feels especially exposed here in this empty place. Not for the first time, the spotted pegasus wonders why he had chosen now to return to this strange world. A nervous roll of his shoulder pulls the leathery wings tighter to his sides, and he exhales a shaky breath. It flickers with sparks, though they soon die and join the spirals of smoke that rise up past his roman norse, to his emerald green eyes that scowl out from beneath a leopard spotted brow.

[Entendu]

The onyx vixen slithers through the ruins with faked intent. Entendu hasn't shown her face in quite some time. Infact, she had fled. Beqanna was not the place she used to know, the place she used to parade around looking for trouble and craving chaos. Everything was different, ruined. What brought her back, well that was not entirely clear. Perhaps it was simply boredom, and the knowledge that though it had taking a beating, her old homeland still stood. Maybe it was nostalgia, his name still lingering on her tongue. Whatever the reason, she was back, and ready to dive back in.

Snaking through the boulders and still standing stones, her gait had not changed over the years. Every leg lifted with flare, hooves striking the earth ever so precisely, as if she were dancing across the land. Occasionally she brushed a jagged rock, scraping her skin just enough to scratch, but not to bleed. She didn't mind. In fact she quite liked the prickles of pain on her bodice, it meant she felt something. She found herself already growing bored, restless. That's when she spotted him. He was hard to miss, mind you. He looked more like a Dalmatian than a horse, with his spotted body perched over the land. She found herself staring at his wings. No matter how many strange and beautiful equines she'd come across, it always enchanting to lay eyes on them. Other than the reddish hues peeking through her mane and a few white marking, Entendu knew she was quite bland compared to the other creatures who claimed this place as home. This only fueled her confidence, as in her much younger years she tended to dazzle the studs surrounding her with no problem.

Without so much as a second thought, her legs carried her upwards. Cerulean eyes remained locked on her target, even as the unsteady footing beneath her shifted and rolled. When she finally reached him, a coy grin had already made itself present upon her velvety lips, her eyes twinkling with intrigue. "Awfully high up aren't we?" She questioned, ignoring his uninviting gaze. "What brings you up here, stranger?"

entendu

I am heaven sent, don’t you dare forget.

@Valdr hope you don't mind me popping in! I haven't posted with her in forever

[Valdr]

His eyes follow the uneven edge of the horizon, tracing the tall crags of the Mountain’s silhouette. The place is magic, or so the stories say, capable of granting both wondrous gifts and inflicting terrible burdens. The fairies who dwell there have gifts beyond imagination, and were the subject of many of Valdr’s favorite childhood tales. They’d inspired him once, but the memory of hearing them as a child - surrounded by his siblings - is no longer a happy one, and he shakes it away with a toss of his black and white head.

Looking away from the mountain, his emerald gaze is caught by movement. A black horse moves through the scrubby growth of the Ruins, visible only now and again between the drab trees and dusty stones that litter the bare earth. She is moving toward him, of that he has no doubt, and Valdr watches with curiosity as she does.

The Field had once been the place to be assured company, but the place is now a shallow inland sea. Could it be that this desolate place is a new common ground, or is life so scarce in this quiet world that any company is good company? The thoughts that spin through his mind are quieted with the arrival of the blue-eyed mare who sure-footedly ascends the ridge upon which he stands.

She is lovely to look at, and from the coy smile she gives, is very aware of this. Why has she approached him, he wonders; what might she want? Though he is no longer frowning, his emerald gaze remains intense in focus as he meets her eye.

“A better view.” He replies immediately, in a low voice made rough by the fiery sparks that crackle with every exhale. They are harmless, reigned in by years of practice, and only with great emotion risk sparking into true flame.

His ability to breathe fire, along with his eye-catching coloring and size, have made him no stranger to the attention of women. While he’d not expected to find such companionship here of all places, it is a far better alternative to much else he might have found when approached by a stranger. As the words ‘a better view’ left his mouth, his emerald eyes had left her sapphire ones to better appreciate the physique that has made her so confident.

“Seems I’ve found one,” he says when he has finished, and his eyes turn back to the Ruins around them that offer only the bleakest of views, and there is a flash of humor in the verdant depths. “What about you?” Valdr’s scrutiny has softened to intrigued curiosity, and he decides to enjoy this interaction while it lasts. There has been little brightness of late, and he’s pleased to have been found by the coy mare with the cerulean eyes, even if he is not at all sure of her intentions.

@Entendu

Sorry it’s taken so long! And i dont mind at all :)