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It was amazing, Raphael mused to himself, how suddenly and unexpectedly one's life could change. One day, you're going along the same as you always are, acting the way you always do, spending time with the people you always see and thinking absolutely nothing of it, and then the next your perceptions of yourself and the world are abruptly challenged and you're forced to examine yourself and your life from behind a new lens, as it were. In the past month, he had gone from a relatively sedate and complacent stallion who had for a long time past assumed himself to be a mature adult to a bewildered and confused stallion, one who had encountered behavior he never would have expected from a mare he'd known his entire life and had been called out as little more than a juvenile by a Soquili who theoretically ought to know. It had been a double whammy to his sense of self and his understanding of the world, but Raphael had never been one to dwell too much on the negatives.

Instead, he had stepped back and taken a good solid look at himself and his life, and made a few choice decisions. The biggest and most important had been to formally take leave of his longtime companion, his father's hawk familiar, Zaris. Zaris had been his monitor when he was a foal, and still accompanied him on his wanderings as an adult even though his monitoring was no longer necessary. Raphael had always appreciated the company and gotten along well with the hawk, but recent events had forced him to realize just how straight-laced and outdated some of Zaris' ideas were and how much of a handicap the hawk's presence could be to any future socialization on Raphael's part, particularly when it came to courtship.

Raphael's mind had been filled with thoughts of that nature for the past two weeks in particular, ever since he had made the surprising discovery that his godmother (and his father's best friend) had recently committed herself to a lifemating with a stallion of large and extended family that dwelt in the colder north mountain slopes. The idea of Elizabeth doing something so dramatic had been a surprise to Raphael, and a surprise to his father Zaphiro when Raphael relayed the information, but both had been happy for the mare and wished her the best. In the time that Raphael had seen her in the slopes, she had seemed very pleased with her situation and had given him her opinion about what he had been told regarding Zaris. In short: Ditch the hawk, be himself, and just be natural.

The only problem was that his definition of being natural had been severely challenged as of late; what, consequently, was a stallion to do?

For now, a stallion was to polish his horn. Being out on his own with no one else around to assist, it one of his daily tasks to see to his grooming and general appearance.

Raphael had always been a creature of habit, and many of his daily tasks had taken on an almost ritualistic manner as he had grown up. Horn polishing was one of those tasks; unlike some other grooming behaviors, it was that he had always tended to himself and been quite pleased with the results. Each side of the horn got 25 polishes, amounting to 50 polishes total, and then he gave it a good final polish with his wings. He preferred to have water handy to rinse it; as it was a healing instrument, he had touched it to more bloody and injured body parts than he really cared to think about, and consequently he took keeping it clean very seriously.

He had never quite thought that horn-polishing would save him from a rather painful encounter before, though.

It had all happened so fast that Raphael had barely had time to hear the sound of footfalls before the mare was almost literally on top of him. It was fortunate that she had speed and wings on her side, but the fact that Raphael was leaned over, head and horn lowered in mid-polish, had to have been beneficial. Otherwise, the instrument of healing would have had to have healed wounds of its own making!

It said something for Raphael's sense of deportment that he was able to meet the situation with dignity. After a few moments of wide-eyed, shell-shocked staring, he collected himself and hastily made his way over to the mare. "I say, Miss, are you alright? You're not hurt at all, are you? I hope you didn't hurt yourself at all with that scamper, you were going very fast!"

Growing up, it had been Raphael's lot to keep an eye on his younger sister, Gemma, a good-hearted mare who had, ever since she was a filly, been getting into scrapes. Raphael had gotten most of his practice in healing tending to Gemma's various injuries and bruises, and as a result he was always quick to see to the ailments of others. Consequently, his appraisal of the mare was a bit more attentive than might actually have been polite, a fact he realized himself all too quickly. Flushing in an almost imperceptible way, he stepped back and nodded his head in apology at the mare. "I beg your pardon."

It was true that Raphael was a proper and straitlaced fellow, but he had never been one to criticize or ridicule another for not following his own particulars brand of ideals. That had always fallen to the realm of Zaris, and Raphael had been left in dealing with the negative reactions on more than one occasion as a result. Indeed, it had been Zaris' overreactions that had led Raphael to this point and this place, and he was in no hurry to start filling that role himself. If he was even able to!

At the moment, though, he wasn't thinking about any scolding, being overwhelmed by the disparate things the mare was saying. Running from squirrels? Reflexively, he looked back in the direction that the mare had come from, but if there were any squirrels coming they were being very silent! He wasn't sure what to make of that, but he did charitably offer her a "Well, it looks like you ran fast enough, because I don't see any squirrels following you." It was safer to address the squirrels than his impropriety; though his sense of decorum made him acknowledge and apologize for the staring, he wasn't about to apologize AND explain! Fortunately for him, she seemed to be in very high spirits and chatted onward before he had a chance to respond, an opportunity which he gratefully seized. "Alright then, Priya, it is of no matter. And I'm Raphael; it's a pleasure to have met you, particularly in such a dramatic but non-violent way! Had you been a couple of inches lower, we might both be in a bit of pain right now." He chuckled at that, glad to be able to reflect on the near-calamity with humor. Not that he wouldn't have been able to heal them, but still!

"And I would be delighted to have a honey cake; I haven't seen one of those in ages!" It was with obvious delight that he took up the pastry, munching on it with great gusto. When he was a small child, his godmother Elizabeth had sometimes brought the sweet treats when she came to visit. She had said that her human companion had made them and that they were a rare treat, which made him appreciate them all the more. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had one...probably not since he was a foal.

It was good that she didn't have to worry about pursuit by the squirrels, but it left Raphael wondering why she had kept running for so long if she had known she was safe. After a moment, though, he decided it was probably a prudent idea; if one was being chased, then it was sensible to make absolutely sure that they were out of danger before stopping. A single squirrel might not be that much to worry about, but they could be something formidable in a group.

So he left the squirrels be, focusing instead on his honey cake and its general tastiness. "Actually, I don't have a human. My family has been independent for years; the only honey cakes I've had came through a friend who lived with a human. That's all over, now, and it's been years besides. Not that I'm in any way upset about that fact, mind you." He added the last part on at the end as a hasty correction, realizing that he could very well be sounding peevish or ungrateful. The last thing he wanted to do was cast aspersions on someone else!

"But yes, so no humans. And no, my family doesn't live in this area. Our home is...well, to be honest, our home is rather isolated. But this area seems nice." He smiled at the mare, gesturing around himself at the attractive scenery. "I take it that you're a local, then?"

Unusual as the thought might be to the mare, NOT having a human companion was much more believable to Raphael than the reverse. His family was rather secluded, true, but in his lifetime he had only met one other Soquili besides Priya who shared time and space with the odd creatures, and only actually seen one human before himself. He found them intriguing, if hard to understand, and admired their dexterity, but that was about it. Being raised in a more traditional family unit that was largely self-reliant, he had never understood the draw that the human-Soquili bond had for some. Then again, there were those that failed to understand the Soquili-familiar bond as well!

Still, he found her surprise at the idea amusing, and he was smiling as he replied, "No human, no. Just myself, my parents, my brother, sister, and my father's familiar, actually. We lived in a pretty isolated place, and it was rare that we ever saw others when we were younger. It must have been rather nice for you to have such a wide and varied group about you, growing up; it almost makes me envious!"

And that was the truth; though he adored his family, his travels since becoming an adult had taught him just how restricted his upbringing had been. That was fine, to a point, but it had definitely lacked the variety of society that others had had! "I'm from back beyond the great forest, myself; my family lives in a lovely section of the foothills, in a beautiful glade. It's...oh, several days' travel from here by wing, even longer by foot." Not that he had traveled it by foot himself, but he had walked enough in his life to know how VERY long it took to cover any great distance in that manner! "Though I've recently been in the northern mountains, myself, and that managed to bring me around in a circle to here. Have you traveled much, Priya?"

Obviously the moral of the story was that 'home was what you knew' and that was all there was to it! It was somewhat amusing, actually, that two Soquili could be from such different family situations and still find something in the other's to be in awe of. Though Raphael certainly felt the same way, in the end; much as he might have been disadvantaged when it came to getting along with other Soquilis, he had still been fortunate enough to have the most wonderful parents in the world and two fabulous siblings...and when it came down to it, he was sure that the quiet life was the best sort of life for he himself.

Foreign as it might have been to Priya, of course. "Well, I can understand where you're coming from; my family is pretty hermit-like, as well. I don't think that we ever went anywhere outside of the immediate territory when I was growing up, and even now my parents almost never go anywhere. My father says that there's no reason to seek out extended society when everything he could want is right there. Though I believe that both he and my mother were each alone in the world prior to meeting one another, so I can understand the desire to spend their later years in privacy. Myself, I'm not at that point yet, so here I am." This was accompanied by a sweeping gesture to the surroundings, followed by an amused look at Priya. "And I'm sure that your family doesn't mean to treat you like a foal, if indeed they do; it's likely because they are so fond of you that they don't want to see you come to any harm."

Raphael had to crack a wry smile at her comment about the consideration of his family. There were certainly truisms involved in her statement; his family did not restrict him or impose sanctions on him. Any isolation or restriction had been self-imposed, instilled in him by his own sense of attachment to his family and his routine. He had been helped, to be sure; Zaris as a companion had been a mobile monitor and connection to home, as much a reminder of what he was away from as if he'd stayed home all along.

The difference between them, though, was that she knew that she was being restrained; until the events of the past few weeks, he'd never realized that he was a captive, of himself or anyone. Priya, on the other hand, had apparently been able to see for a long time that she was a captive. By seeing the restraints, she had been able to recognize them for what they were. At this point, he could almost envy her.

But he responded to her query with a shrug, unsure as to what sort of response he should give. On the one hand, he could respect the idea of her father and grandfather wanting to keep her safe. Having a sister himself, he was very aware of the trouble she was able to get herself into and could very heartily agree with the value in young mares staying near their family until they were in a better position to keep themselves safe. However, he'd also come to realize lately that it was impossible to measure what was good for one person on the basis of what was good for another. So his tone was very measured and slow as he responded, "I think that we are ultimately the best judges of what will work for us, much as the opinions of those close to us are of value."

Privately, Raphael wondered just how much value any father would attach to the opinions of any other male with regards to their daughters, particularly if that male wasn't a father himself. Raphael's own father had spent a great deal of time when Raphael and his brother Aedelstan were young explaining to them their duty with regards to their sister and her honor, as well as their duty to other females of their acquaintance and keeping all behavior firmly above-board. Zaphiro had explained to the two teens that there was a negative stigma attached to females who were suspected of being too familiar with males, and that it was the responsibility of them and all other young males to keep themselves above reproach. An important additional element of this conversation had been Zaphiro's explanation of the double standard attached to males; females were usually the innocent party in any suspicions of shady dealings, with all blame falling on the stallion, and nowhere was this more evident than in dealings with fathers. Fathers were wont to suspect first and apologize later, or so he'd heard.

That made Priya's next statement all the more startling, and Raphael had to blink at her several times before he realized that she was serious. And that realization didn't make it easier to know how to respond!

He was very much the gentleman, and always had been. It would be the height of rudeness to turn away from a mare who needed help, and he would have been the first to volunteer if protection or assistance was needed. But there was a difference between a female needing help because she was lost, or in a dangerous situation, and between her wanting validation for leaving home. He didn't know what to say, but felt very much the absurdity of the situation. After all, they'd only just met; if HE was her father, mother, or grandfather, he certainly wouldn't trust himself; he'd be the sort of creature he'd least like his daughter to be going off with, just on principle!

But he couldn't just leave her hanging, and after a few moments of bewildered silence he finally managed to respond. "Your confidence is very kind, but I'm not sure that many others would share your sentiment, Priya; after all, we have only just recently met, and what you are suggesting and it's reasoning seems to mandate an amount of pre-exisitng trust." He shifted awkwardly, frowning to himself as he tried to figure out a way to not sound rude. "I admire your drive, but think your family would be far more comfortable with you asking a stallion already known to and trusted by them."