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It had started as such a normal day. Thalia had been out exploring on her own, looking up and down and absolutely all over for another Soquili to meet. Unfortunately, the mare hadn't been having a very good time of it lately having walked all over yesterday without any signs of life, save for the background wildlife.

It was only today that it occurred to her that it might not be a stroke of bad luck, but simply the area she had been searching in.
Maybe no one has discovered this place yet. Maybe I am the first. The thought intrigued her, but today was a friend-making day, not a day of exploring the unknown. Now if she could only find an open space in the trees so she could take off and search from an aerial view...

Thalia, being young and foolish, craned her head back while she walked, looking through the branches for a gap in the foliage, rather than at the tree trunks ahead of her. As such, it was hardly a surprise when she took a tumble down a sudden slope. She let out a squeal of alarm as she rolled downhill for a bit, before stopping at a small clearing at the bottom of the hill. Getting to her hooves, Thalia flinched: one of them was twisted. It would be a while before she could get off the ground, whether or whether not the clearing she had been searching for was right before her.

"There's no use in sulking about it." She reasoned with herself, for there was no one else to reason with her. "You're just going to have to carry a tune until you can walk again. Lawe, lawe lawe, lawe..." She sang to warm her vocal chords before going on. Singing was always the best way to pass the time, after all.

After imagining that she was alone and would be for quite some time, Thalia found herself spook a bit when a voice called down to her from the heavens. The mare tilted her head back, peering through the greenery until she spotted a stallion with a dark mane and magnificent golden wings. That's all she could really see of him, but with her sensitive Cerynei blood, she found that she could hear him quite well.

He doesn't look dangerous. She thought, smiling up at the stallion. And even if he did, you can never judge someone solely based on their appearances. It was a lesson tat her parents had worked into their daughter's mind from a very young age and in dealing with new Soquili, it always came to factor in.

"I've twisted one of my ankles, but I believe I can meet you in the clearing ahead, yes!" She replied, projecting her voice with ease. The lungs of a singer were powerful things when they wanted to be. With a wave of a wing, she gestured to the clearing. "I'll meet you over there!"

Unfortunately, the twist in her ankle caused her quite a bit of discomfort and what ordinarily would have been a few easily steps took around two minutes to complete. She had been hoping not to aggravate the twist any further, but when her injured hoof caught on a rock in in the clearing, she found herself toppling forward, sure to hit the ground with a roug thud if no one caught her in time.

Thalia looked up at the larger stallion gratefully when he caught her and then led her to a clover patch by a small pond. Careful not to fall in, she bent her other three legs accordingly and lay herself down, dipping her right fore-hoof into the pond and giving a relieved sigh at the coolness of the water, her feathering fluttering contentedly at her sides.

"Thank you for your aid." She said, turning her head again so that she could look at the stallion who had helped her. He was a magnificent creature and not one that she had ever seen before. He had wings, of course, so there must have been some pegasi blood in him, but they were so large! Then his coat was equally parts of the night and day. It was as though he were the sun, outlined by the darkness of the night; an eclipse perhaps.

Thalia had never been informed of the universal rule that staring was impolite, so she continued to take him apart in her mind, that was, until she got to where his own hooves should have been.
"My goodness!" She exclaimed, "I've certainly never met a pawed Soquili before!" Her ears twitched, she had been talking over him, but managed by some miracle to catch what he had been asking her.

"Well, I'm here to make friends, you see, and there are quite a lot of Soquili out there without wings, so I was hoping to meet some on the ground only it didn't-- Wait, you think my wings are beautiful?" Her mind had just registered the memory of a compliment with his question and she blushed a pretty pink as she went onto saying, "I don't know how you can think my wings are beautiful when you've got the most wonderful feathers I've ever seen! Although... With wings that large, I imagine preening might be a bit of a challenge, hm?"

Thalia found herself taking extreme delight in the company of this stallion. She appreciated the give and take of their conversation and even more so the honesty in which he gave her. While Thalia had not come across many dishonest Soquili, she could find no spot of lies in his golden eyes. They were as clear and as bright as the stars and just as mesmerizing to lose herself in. Surely, this would have been the case, had Thalia not been paying attention to the word so he spoke.

"Six brothers?!" She echoed with wide eyes.
"My, that's a large family! Or, maybe it isn't, I'm unsure with the standards for other families. You see, I'm an only foal." She raised a wing slightly in a half-shrug, before letting him continue on.

"That does sound like a challenge." She replied softly, before asking another question of him. "What is your home like? Is it very beautiful?" She turned her gaze out to the woods, though in her mind's eye she was lookin get at passed the woods and to new adventures beyond. "I should like to explore every bit of land and sky the world has to offer me. I stayed for one place for so long with my parents that I never was allowed to travel very far, but now... Now I can see the beauty of the world with my own eyes." Her eyes lit up as she thought of traveling again, and then she turned back to the stallion. "I do believe I would like to see your home amongst the places I visit too."

Realization of rudeness flickered in her eyes and she hurried on,
"Not now, of course! I wouldn't like to impose upon you; not after you have been so courteous to me, a complete stranger... Oh, goodness, I haven't even introduced myself have I?" She lowered her eyes in clear embarrassment and then cleared her throat softly, before looking back at the golden stallion, "My name is Thalia, Thalia Veraldi. What, if I may ask, is yours?"

Thalia had had many conversations with Soquili before, male and female alike. She had met Kalona and wingless Soquili, nice ones and grumpy, but never had the mare come across someone so bewilderingly light as this stallion seemed to her. He was earnest and truthful, she could see no deception in his eyes, though she had not come to recognize such a thing she was sure she would see it if it ever happened. She was a foolish mare in such a regard, but she had been following her gut instinct since she'd left home and it hadn't yet brought her any misfortune.

What her gut was telling her at that moment, anyway, was clear: Oma was important. She trusted him upon first sight and she had no intention of leaving him without repaying him for his kindness... And to stay in his company. She suspected he would become her friend of the day, and this is why she was so inclined to stay by his side, but something didn't feel quite right about that. He was more important than a friend, she thought, but saying so aloud and after they met so soon... It was not a thought that should be spoken, not for a long while.
"Thal?" She echoed and then smiled, "Yes, that will do nicely. Thank you, Oma."

She turned her expression into one of merriment, for she had never had a nickname before and found herself becoming lost in the mini suns that were her companion's eyes. It was impossible to say how long she stared at him, her expression eventually moving from happy to gentle and open, but she came out of it slowly, and then there was nothing but embarrassment upon her features.

"O-oh my, I'm sorry! You see-I was just-I mean well, you're" Somewhere in the flustered tumble of words came an unexpected compliment, "You're too handsome, I mean, really I've never met anyone else like you--" Which provoked her into getting her feathers ruffled and she ducked her head, trying to both escape certain death of embarrassment and to try to calm down.

When she had, she let out a long sigh, but did not look up at Oma again. "I'm sorry, we've just met and now I'm sure you think I'm a lunatic." Her next sigh was more mournful than the first. "I just so want you to like me..." Her pale face was showing pink as she peeked up at the golden stallion now, wondering if she had lost the friendship they had just begun do to her shameful display.