Already, she is falling in love with Tephra. The warm breezes, the green grass, even the towering mountain that she sometimes forgets is a volcano; they have enraptured her, and captured her heart. Always Sloene has been raised to know that someday she will serve a Kingdom, that her talents might set her apart and give her prestige, and having connects with the powerful had been all her foster-mothers had wanted. Btu she had never realized that you might love a place, and the people who inhabit it.
It’s all very new, this overwhelming affection for a place, and she knows that she owes it to Aranea, and her bravery to come recruiting in the Field even without a voice. So even though she is not confident in her own ability to convince anyone to come to her new home, Sloene sets out to attempt just that.
The little gray mare with the primitive markings picks the small gathering of mares on a whim, glancing at each as she joins them, a shy smile offered to each in turn before she turns her silver eyes on the cream mare that is the focus of all of their attention. The mare who is a confusing contradiction of the spicy fallen leaves of Sylva and the sharp bite of salty Nerine is the first to speak, and the mare who smells of earthy Taiga follows with many, many more words. But when she is finished, staring at Djinni, Sloene takes the chance to slip a few of her own words in.
“I’m Sloene,” she offers her name first, to all of them, before focusing on the pale mare. “Taiga is lovely,” she adds, keeping her tone sweet and soft in contrast to the confidence of Djinni and Heda. She knows that she is plain in contrast to the winged girl, and even the curiously adorned Djinni, and she must stand out in some other way. “But I have fallen in love with another Kingdom – Tephra. We live where once a volcano erupted, and the nutrients from the volcano’s remains make everything verdant and growing and so exquisite. I’d also be happy to show you my home, if you were interested, and introduce you to the people there. They have taken me in, when I had no home, and made me very welcome.”