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Life outside of a basket was so interesting.

First of all, it was loud. Everyone was so excited the moment they'd burst through the wicker that a less energetic filly might have been overwhelmed. Syrea had stared, wide-eyed, and then let out a triumphant whoop, tumbling across the ground in a jumble of legs, wings, and basket remains. From the moment she'd taken to her hooves she'd been running, and though she'd had some fun chasing her siblings around and getting to know all the Soquili she now knew to call family, there was such a big world out there. The sky went on forever, after all!

Still, it took some maneuvering to get away from everyone. If there wasn't one pair of watchful eyes on her, there was another. She didn't understand this business of keeping each other close when she'd barely gotten a chance to experience the big, wide world, and she let her displeasure be known. No one really seemed to see it from her perspective, though.

So, she snuck out. Tail tucked between her legs, she flattened her wings as best she could, ducked her head, and slunk away from the crowd. If she hadn't been so desperate to get out there and see what there was to see she would have roped someone else into coming with her, but she figured her best bet was to keep it a small operation. Less chance of being discovered and being dragged back by her tail, after all!

Speaking of tails!

Catching a flash of minty green out of the corner of her eye, she cackled, lunging for it. Dust swirled around her as she cut wicked circles, amusing herself and enjoying her newfound freedom all in one. Imagine, her first day out of her basket and she was already off exploring!

It had been a little bumpy at first. She'd fallen more often than she'd stood upright, but she had a pretty good handle on her legs now, and boy, nothing was going to stop her.

Nothing except -- "Ouch!"

Slamming bodily into something, she grunted, legs flying out from under her as her momentum bowled her into and over whatever had gotten in her way. Her breath left her in a whoosh, and by the time she realized what was going on, she was upside-down in a bush, rump sticking out behind her, wings fanning uselessly at her sides.

After a beat, she exclaimed, "What in the world did I smash into?!"

Not one to be contained for long -- she'd had quite enough of that in her basket, thank you very much -- Syrea grunted and pawed around in the bush, doing her level best to gain footing. When her head popped up, it was adorned with leaves in the most ridiculous arrangement, but all that could be seen on her face was pride. Take that, bush.

Shaking her head out vigorously, sending leaves flying, she executed a quick backwards maneuver that had a great deal more pomp than was necessary. She was so intent on freeing herself that she nearly upended once her hooves hit solid dirt, and she peered around, minty green eyes a little over-wide. When they landed on the figure before her, she stared right back, lips pursed tightly in consideration.

It was -- it was definitely -- "You're a boy."

There was the kind of startled wonder in her voice that really ought to have only been reserved for truly remarkable things, but to Syrea, this colt was remarkable. For one, he wasn't related to her, and for two, he had things sticking out of his sides that looked nothing like what she'd seen on anyone else before.

Completely, absolutely remarkable.

Personal space as foreign a concept as wind wings, she leaned forward, hooves crossing in all manner of confusion as she turned to face him. Nearly nose-to-nose, she grinned, wings whipping wildly at her sides in excitement.

"Hello! Hello, who are you?" She bumped noses with him on accident, then giggled. "Oops, sorry."

Damien was really weird, Syrea decided, watching him with a mixture of fascination and amusement as he tried his hardest to put distance between the two of them without actually moving. Her limited sphere of knowledge on the world couldn't quite explain this particular phenomenon, and though it was true she'd barely taken to her feet for a day, she felt like she was pretty well versed in how the world worked. Not only did Damien not quite look like anyone else she'd met before, but he certainly acted differently.

And wait, what? Loud? Of course she was loud!

Looking at him as though he'd suddenly sprouted a second head, Syrea wasted no time in mirroring his motions, her own cloven hooves pattering excitedly after his as she paced with him. If he was moving, she'd start moving, yeah? It made sense. Prior to a few moments ago, Syrea hadn't even known he existed; there was no way she was letting him out of her sights so soon.

"Everybody is loud!" She said it with such authority that she imagined no one in their right mind could argue with her. "When I popped out of my basket it was just noise everywhere! That's the way the world works, Damien," she added, explaining it to him in a very patient voice.

That same patient voice brightened after a moment, and she hopped, wings buzzing uselessly once more at her sides. "Oh! And I'm Syrea. That's sear-ee-yah," she emphasized, wanting to make sure that he got it right.

Her mother had named her, after all! And she was iz-ree-ell! So it was important to have your name spoken properly. Everyone knew that, though.

It didn't occur to Syrea not to follow; she was young and curious, and had no concept of the danger of being led away from family and safety. She didn't like when her name was mispronounced, and her features clouded, displeasure obvious. She'd made sure to say his name exactly the way he'd told it to her, after all! Why couldn't he get it right?

Almost as quickly as the thought occurred to her it was dismissed in favor of a more interesting topic. Unbeknownst to the filly, she had indeed been followed from the safety of the herd, but whoever was keeping an eye on her had thus far kept their distance, and she was happy to assume that she was embarking on a grand adventure all her own. She kept pace with Damien easily, all too excited for the things to come, and flashed him a grin.

"I live close by, yeah! My family is huge. And everyone looks really different." This was normal to her because Syrea didn't know what abnormal was. She thought nothing of the horns she could see behind Damien's ears, didn't think to question what she assumed had to be the wings at his side. He looked different from her, but so what? Everyone looked different from her.

She wasn't uneasy in the least, and as her tail swung behind her, she looked up at the canopy of trees. Unfamiliar, but pretty.

"So what about you? Do you live around here?" Captivated by her recent discovery and all too eager to learn about him, Syrea looked at him expectantly once more, deciding to forgive him for mispronouncing her name. It was a mistake, and mistakes happened, right?

Right!

He had her hook, line, and sinker -- or he would have, if she'd known what any of those things were. Syrea was positively eating up his every word, her steps becoming more and more exuberant as they went along. A whole place full of Soquili who looked like her? Wow! That would be really cool! Maybe they were all related to her or something? She didn't know how she felt about living in the sky, but the idea of flying was one that she already held near and dear to her heart, and she vowed then and there to make it to the place in the sky some day. She couldn't do it alone, obviously, since she didn't know the password or anything, but Damien knew it.

"That is--" she sucked in a breath, kicking off the ground and hopping. Her wings flapped, but as expected, she didn't take flight. Instead, she just fell back to the ground. "That is so cool! I wish I could fly! Viraj is going to teach me to fly, I just know it, I'm going to make him teach me."

Eyes shining, excitement clear in her face, she burst forth with a rapid onslaught of questions. "When did you leave? Can you get back? Are your parents still there? How come you got to come all by yourself? Are you strong?"

The last didn't seem to make much sense in regards to all the others, but she had to pause to take a breath. Clearly, if Damien was away from the magic place, he had to be strong, especially if his parents weren't with him. Syrea was pretty strong, she figured, though she hadn't actually ever tested it. She'd shown that basket a thing or two, anyway! She could probably handle herself against, um... whatever would keep her from the cloud place.

Looking up at the sky, her voice hushed, a stark contrast to the hurried babble from before. "It sounds amazing. I really want to go."

She had to be the luckiest filly in the world to have encountered a super special colt on a secret mission from a kingdom in the sky on her first day out of her basket. That pretty much made her special, too -- she considered this, and decided that since she had met him and he'd divulged his secret, she must have been meant to help him with his mission. That only made sense, right? He'd probably seen her wings and known immediately that she was the only one who could help! Well, Fleurite had wings too, but Syrea was here and Fleurite was not, so that took care of that.

Appropriately awed by his wings, she danced a circle around him, tail whipping behind her in a zig-zag pattern. "Wow! I've never seen wings like that. Those are wings, right? Mine are too, but I can't use them yet."

Shoulders hunched, she thought about trying again, nearly did, but knew that she wouldn't be able to take off yet. She wasn't embarrassed or ashamed of that fact yet, since her wings looked a look more delicate than Damien's, but she knew she would be able to fly. Her mama said she took after her papa that way, and he could definitely fly. She just had to practice, or ask Viraj to teach her.

Viraj would definitely teach her. She'd spoken to him briefly, chased him and Einarr around a little, and he seemed nice enough. Her mom liked him, so that pretty much meant he was a good guy.

But that wasn't the matter at hand. The matter at hand was the sky kingdom.

Taken by a sudden thought, she asked with wide eyes, "What's a kingdom?"

Syrea was not 100% positive she knew what a king was, but she did know that it sounded very impressive, and as the seconds ticked by she was suitably more and more awed by the colt before her. When she went home, she was going to have so many questions to ask her mother! And Viraj, too, since he had wings; perhaps he had been to the Sky Kingdom? Maybe he hadn't, and she would be telling him something new! Boy, wouldn't that be amazing? Barely set foot on the world and she was already educating them about mystical lands.

Damien had only said she couldn't mention it to his sister, after all. It was really too bad for his sister. She knew that if she had come from a mystical kingdom she wouldn't want to forget it. Nevermind she wouldn't know she'd forgotten, she was pretty sure she'd still end up feeling cheated somehow... and anyway, he was going to be king, whatever that was! It was probably a good thing his sister didn't know, or she'd probably be really envious.

Syrea was experiencing some serious envy herself. Why, if she hadn't already figured out that she was supposed to help him on his mission, she'd probably be in the throes of despair at the thought of never getting to see the kingdom.

"This is really cool," she decided, fanning her own wings out to match his. Though hers were pretty and delicate, especially compared to his, they were decently comparable in size. "I'm really glad I ran into you, Damien. I'll bet it was totally meant to be."

She nodded, mulling it over for a moment. The silence couldn't last long, unfortunately for Damien. "So if you're going to be king -- and you call the shots -- what are your parents? Are they king right now? Is that why you were sent down here?"

Whatever Damien thought, Syrea was positive that their meeting was meant to be, and she was going to continue thinking that way until something came along to prove her wrong. What could possibly prove her wrong she didn't know, except maybe someone else from the Sky Kingdom dropping down to help him with his mission, maybe. That could make her think that it probably wasn't meant to be. But, well, that hadn't happened, had it? So she was right, though it wasn't really about being right.

Syrea could probably handle being wrong, she was just sure she wasn't, so she didn't have to worry about it. She did, however, become momentarily discouraged by the colt's mean words.

No one was mean to her at home. She wasn't exactly sure how to respond to it. Uncertain, she stopped, the only movement the slight flicking of her wings, still fully spread as they had been. Dumb? She wasn't dumb. She wasn't like, the smartest Soquili in the world, but she definitely wasn't dumb. She was pretty sure her mother would have told her if she was dumb. Anyway, not everyone knew who kings were! Or what they were! Or how many of them there were!

The silence was a little uneasy, and her eyes flicked away from his face, staring down a bush. She wasn't dumb. Of course he knew more things than her, he was from the Sky Kingdom. They had a king there, and he was going to be the next king! It wasn't her fault she was just from a herd and they didn't have any kings around!

Looking back, ears tipping closer to her head, she said slowly, "I'm not dumb, I just... don't know what a king is. We don't have them here, you know," she added, tail winding around her leg.

The silence returned for a moment, and she shifted her weight from hoof to hoof. "I've never even heard of one before you, so you're the only king I know, anyway." A pause. "Or future king, or whatever."

She looked away again, a frown marring her features. Dumb was a bad thing, she knew that much. She might not have known exactly what it meant, but she knew it didn't mean smart, which her momma had called her just that morning, so...

"I'm not dumb," she repeated, lower lip sticking out slightly. "I'm smart, okay. I just don't know anything about your secret kingdom yet, that's all."

She felt a little strange, so she looked at the ground, pawing at the dirt until she made a little groove. She'd ask her momma if she was really dumb, that's what she'd do. Just because she didn't know about a king.

Her momma would definitely be able to tell her all about kings.