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It had been quite some time since Lockes had put it in her mind to travel such a long distance. She never had the habit of staying in one place and traveled often, but just a small distance every day. Walking for too long or through a terrain that one wasn't used to could cause sweating and while healthy, sweat was not a perfect accessory when you wanted to look at least clean for the public eye.

However, today was different. Today, yesterday and the day before too, where different because she had been informed by a mare of the most relaxing place in the entire Western Region. She couldn't recall what had happened to the zealous mare she'd come across, but it was through her that she'd learned of the Hot Springs that were located in the Western Mountains.

While it was fortunate that Lockes had been in the Western Plains as the news had drifted to her, she had realized upon the second day of her travel, that the mountains were so far away. Much to her growing despair, she found that the mountain trails themselves were full of loose rocks and dust, which stuck to her sweaty coat and made her pale coat look brown. Why, she was practically a dark bay! How humiliating!

It was this realization that had fueled her to almost running the rest of the way to the hot springs and much to her grand relief, it appeared to be a very empty area, today at least. She trotted over to the closest pool she could find and dabbed her hoof at its surface in a dainty fashion. She let it sink in ankle deep and when she decided that it was hot a scalding temperature, she climbed in the rest of the way, sinking all the way up to her head and letting her fur and fabric become entirely heavy with hot water.

"Ohhhh...." Sighed the mare. This certainly was relaxing. She was practically purring with how good everything felt when she heard hoofsteps coming up the main road. She perked her ears in slight alarm. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! What would she ever do if someone saw her like this? While it was true that the dust had washed off from her fur and hair and fabric, she was sure that she looked positively ridiculous damp.

The only thing to do, she supposed, was to be polite. Tilting her head back a bit, she cleared her throat and called out in as welcoming a tone as she could manage,
"You needn't be shy, my dear. We're the only ones here, it seems and the water is absolutely, lovely." Said she, hoping that the one that had approached would be at least as friendly as she was trying to be.

Lockes let out a sound somewhere between a sigh and a giggle of relief when the other Soquili replied sounding about as nervous as she had been upon hearing their approach. Shaking her head slightly, she replied in what she hoped were soothing tones.

"Darling, I promise not to laugh, so long as you do me the same curtesy." She informed them, for she was certain she was looking quite ridiculously wet. The volume of her mane and tail dissolved as soon as she had walked into the water, now falling in smooth, flat waves. If she were to get out so soon, a halo of frizz would appear between her ears.

Beautiful as she often looked, she was not naturally so perfect and had to work for her perfection. Between cracking nuts for their oils to make her hooves shine, cutting split ends with her blade, and holding her curls together with the stickiness of tree sap (a trick she would die with, for she would surely die if anyone found out about it.)

Beauty tips aside, her eyes were now on the figure that was coming towards her. At first, she thought it was a mare, for it was small in statue and had a very curly mane. Upon closer inspection however, she found that it was a stallion coming towards her, and a dirty one at that. Something in her stirred, but the steam of the springs soothed her mind and didn't lead her to dwell on it.

"I dare say I was in a similar state coming up here." She said to him, with a look of sympathy, "The water does wonders for the dirt, I assure you. Come in, come in. No one should have to stand in such agony while others bathe." She insisted, moving slowly to an edge of the pool, so the stallion would have more room, however small he was. When she had settled in again, she sighed contentedly and looked back to the bright-coated stallion, "My name is Lockes, by the way. Who do I have the pleasure of addressing?"

Lockes looked politely away when the stallion joined her in the water, not wanting to stare at him. Staring, she found, prompted all sorts of insecurities, which was something that she would loathe to have new new companion go through. No, no, she mustn't stare, it wasn't even an option for her.

She looked instead at the pool of water in front of her, looking back to the Flutter stallion when the waves in the pool had calmed to gentle ripples. At his conversational tone and large grin, she found herself returning the show of friendliness and inclined her head towards the stallion, or rather, to Hideaki.

"It's a delight to meet you as well, Hideaki." She returned before he continued and she found herself listening to him attentively, though she smiled shyly at the bombardment of questions. "Oh, well, um..."

She let out a soft sigh of relief when the smaller Soquili recognized his error and he apologized for prying into her life. Her smile growing a bit, she replied.
"Thank you for your apology. It's... been a while since someone has asked so much about me that I wasn't sure how to react at first." She straightened in the water and cleared her throat. "Now, however, I am ready to answer those questions."

"I was actually in one of the central region's forests when I heard of these Hot Springs. They sounded so lovely and relaxing that I put it in my mind to come straight away, though I must admit, I had forgotten what a long walk it is from the Central Valley to the Western Region. It was quite the adventure, though it may not appear so to some who are always traveling, I suppose." Lockes stopped herself before her reply turned into a monologue. "What of yourself? Where did you journey from?"