[open] Wandering

[Delphinium]

Delphinium wandered a bit until she came to a land that seemed like home but quickly decided no then weary, nervous and hungry she pressed on in this new world.  After a bit she quite literally stumbled into the lands of the dales and catching herself before her pale coat met the dark ground. Shaking her pale mane she sighed and moved a bit off of what looked like a trail she'd stumbled on and looking around with her large dark eyes for danger but seeing nothing immediate she finally relaxed into a hip-shot stance and dozed.

[Moira]

Moira doesn’t recognize the golden mare who comes stumbling into the Dale. Though the mostly white mare has not long been in these rolling hills, she has seen enough faces to know that the wary-eyed palomino is slightly more a stranger to this place than she is.

The other looks tired, so Moira does not approach immediately. Instead, she grazes half-heartedly, keeping a careful watch between quickly snatched bites. The forage on land is infinitely better than that below the sea, Moira has found.

Moira sees something that she chooses to believe is indicative of the other mare waking up, and turns her body to move toward her. Her gold and blue-violet markings are bright and clear in the winter sunlight, standing out both for the fishlike scales that create them as well as the way they shimmer.

“Hello. I’m Moira. Who’re you?” Her voice is somewhat coarse here in the open air, but her expression is open and friendly. Her finlike mane is held partially up, another sign of her friendliness that is less recognizable to those above the water. 

@Delphinium

[Delphinium]

Startled Delphinium looks around with her large eyes and sees a white mare with a...fin?
Shaking her coat she stands properly and draws a breath taking in the scents around her.  Her nostrils flaring she catches a faint whiff that reminds her of the drayhorse she once knew near the coast her family went to in the Summer.

Flicking her ear she replied in a soft voice full of curiosity "I am Delphinium. I am not sure where I am." She hesitantly admitted.

[Moira]

Moira is not the best with names, and she cannot recall that of the horse that had welcomed her upon her first arrival. But she does remember the name of the place.

”They call it the Dale.” Says the pale mare with an easy smile, answering the implied question of the other female without hesitation.

”It seems nice enough, but not quite enough water for me.” Moira’s green eyes are bright with laughter, and scales around them crinkle with amusement. At her words, she flutters the draping fins at her side.

[Delphinium]

Oh! She startled as the other mare hmm Moira fluttered fins? She shook her elegant pony head at this sign of yet again she was not in her old world but somewhere new!

"The Dale? Seems nice here." She snorted and smiled as the fins fluttered...
"If I may be so bold may I ask what are you?" She said her voice holding curiosity in it. Her dark eyes watched flicking to look around as they stood talking.

[Moira]

It seems that her fluttering fins were a surprise to Moira’s new acquaintance. A surprise, but not a bad one, if the curiosity in her fellow pony’s eyes was anything to go by.

”I’m a nereid.” She answers, ”Most of my family is from the western waters.” They’d once inhabited the islands there, before they’d sunk beneath the sea in one of Beqanna’s earth-altering transformations. She doesn’t especially miss them.

”My mother told me about this place when I was a child.” Moira adds, following Delphinium’s gaze as it travels over the wintery land. ”I don’t know much other than that its been lost for a long time, and Beqanna’s magic has only recently made it - and other lands - return.”

[Delphinium]

Delphinium nodded her elegant pony head and pawing lightly she asked Moira if there was anywhere that maybe some sweet salt grasses grew or clover? Her golden coat shivered a bit as she stretched her muscles without actually moving really.

She grimaced a little as her tummy rumbled.

[Moira]

Delphinium asks no further questions of Moira’s aquatic nature, and the pale mare is content to let the subject pass. She is far from the sea, after all, and to talk much of it might make her miss it all the more.

Her attention is drawn away from the memory of life beneath the sea by the rumbling of a hungry stomach and Delphinium’s request of something to eat. ”Oh!” Moira says softly, startled from her contemplation and offering an abashed smile. ”Oh yes, of course”

They stand amidst the rocky hills surrounding the heart of the Dale, and Moira gestures with her purple and gold muzzle in the direction of the broad meadow that surrounds the central lake. ”The snow isn’t deep, and there’s good grazing this way.” As she leads the way, the nereid looks over at Delphinium and asks:

”Where are you from?”

[Delphinium]

Delphinium follows the motion of the pale mare's muzzle and flicks her ears excited to see the snow and the idea of food! The last time she'd ate had been a couple days ago.
Is this the snow her ancestors had said was so pastern-numbing cold but at the same time such fun?!
Delphinium couldn't be happier at food or snow and whickered as she stepped daintily after her new friend.

"I am from another country. I am looking for the place my ancestors came from and who I inherited my golden coat from. My parents told me our ancestorshadcomefromhere butno onehad ever seen it afterwards and it was forgotten until me. "

[Moira]

Snow had been new to Moira once as well. The islands of her birthplace had been tropical ones. Snow had been a beautiful novelty, but it is not something of the sea, and so Moira cannot truly love it.

It chills her pasterns as they wade through it in search of the good grazing Moira had promised.

Delphinium answers her question, and Moira listens with interest. She is from elsewhere, the world beyond Beqanna. But her bloodline is not new to this place, and Moira turns to look once more at the golden coat the other references. It is a lovely shade, golden and rich, reminding her of the sea floor of a kelp forest she’d once seen. Beautiful.

She doesn’t know of a story of golden coats, but most of her favorite tales are of the sea, and those are the ones she remembers best. Someone from the land might know more, she supposes. But it is not her quest.

”Here we are.” She says, gesturing to the plentiful grasses that grow in the protected space between two rolling hills. Hey curious green gaze lifts to scan the surrounding area, knowing that the place is a popular one. ”Maybe one of the other residents will be along soon.”