[open] at the ready [Gale]

[Jesla]

Jesla continues to bubble with excitement as @[Gale] agrees to be her escort. The appaloosa listens to the brindled navy pegasus as he describes how they will cross the bay to the mainland. As her tufted lobes tune into his comforting voice, the maiden cannot help but feel even more drawn to the steed. He is so observant, and thoughtful! What a gentleman! A wiser mare might question that this all seems too good to be true; however, Jesla is not only naive but, naive and in love.

The mostly black mare nods eagerly when Gale asks if she is ready. This is the moment she has been waiting for, and who better to run away from home with than this noble guy? She knew the dark waters would be freezing but that did not much matter, right now. She leans into the brush of Gale's wing before unlocking her joints. Quad pillars lift with an animated lightness as the pair make their way to the coastline. Jesla focuses her mint gaze to the opposite side of the obstacle ahead of them. Nerine is her goal for now. She takes a moment to verify that Gale is still beside her, and her confidence swells. The mint mare heeds Gale's direction and jumps into the icy waters where he indicates.

Up until this point, she made a conscious decision to not look at the water. As it envelops her, Jesla is caught off guard by its strength. It is free and pliable, yet it is so tightly bound, she feels momentarily trapped. Her limbs paddle and kick to keep her head above water. With a few determined thrusts, the spotted mare pushes forward. She cuts through the frigid liquid slowly but, steadily. The pegasus steers her along the easiest course and she follows his guidance until she is clambering onto Nerine's rocky coastline. When her hooves find traction in the jagged pebbles, Jesla feels her limbs sway. The cold and exertion have fatigued her muscles. The mare finds it difficult to steady her limbs until a small wave shoves her forward. Her front hooves snap out to catch her and, with the help of the adrenaline, Jesla manages to get her limbs under her chassis.

She looks to Gale and offers a soft smile. "Thanks to you, I made it! Not very gracefully, though." Jesla looks away by focusing on the new surroundings. The cold water, coupled with the chilly air, induces a wave of shivering throughout her body. The appaloosa steps forward, aware that moving around would be the quickest way to warm up. She pauses and glances back at the navy and brindle pegasus. "Will you show me around?" Jesla wastes no time springing into a trot. Her gait starts out stiff, but she has confidence that moving will generate heat soon. Since she has no clue where they are headed, the mint-spotted appaloosa just concentrates on one hoof in front of the other. She will happily follow her knight in shining armor wherever he chooses so, she makes an effort to shorten her stride a little in an effort to let him take the lead.

[Gale]

Gale run away with me-- lost souls and reverie running wild and running free   When Jesla’s hooves are solidly on Nerine’s shore, Gale feels a weight fall from his navy shoulders. Though the spotted mare is young and strong, the northern sea is far harsher than the turquoise shores of his oceanic home. He had worried for her safety, and the relief that comes with having made it to dry land envelops him like a warm Islandres wave. When paired with the excitement that comes of being in a new land, this whole adventure is cast in a bright and rosey glow, and he bumps affectionately at the mare’s black shoulder with his muzzle. The touch lasts only a moment, ended by a short nod to accept her thanks and then the desire to look over this strange place. His eyes had been cast down into the sea on the way here, and only now does the blue-eyed stallion take in the full majesty of the Nerenian coast. A grey cliff a dozen times Gale’s height looms up from the narrow beach in front of them, reaching toward the grey sky. To either side, slightly shorter cliffs with visible greenery at the top suggest that the main residency of this northern territory is likely to be up there, where grazing is likely to be more plentiful. Surely there will be someone up there to direct them along the best land routes to reach the rest of Beqanna. But how to get Jesla up there, Gale wonders, are there trails up the cliff? A large bird moves closer to the cliffs from where he had been circling slowly over the pair of horses. The osprey is midnight black, as are all the non-equine fauna of his native Islandres, and his sharp golden eyes are able to see much more sharply than Gale’s, and he tells the horned stallion what he sees through the telepathic bond that they share. “Show you around?” The stallion’s voice is both perplexed and distracted, though the latter fades from his eyes as his attention refocuses on the green-eyed mare and his expression softens into a smile. “I’ve never been to Nerine before. I can tell you what it looks like from overhead, but I’ve no idea where anything is by hoof.” @[Jesla]