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On awakening, Nyx was treated to a rare moment of abject panic. Some little way away from her, over by the stream, Hasani lay on his side looking very, very still. Scrabbling to her hooves, the Aeri hurried over and pressed her muzzle to the stallion's strong neck. A regular beat of blood ran through it and the mare allowed herself to relax. So, he wasn't dead as she had foolishly feared for a second but he was very, very deeply asleep, or so it seemed.

The splotched mare nudged the neck more firmly and snorted softly. "Hasani? Are you alright?" He really didn't look it but the strong pulse had reassured her that it probably wasn't anything drastic. Didn't mean she wasn't still a bit worried though.

Sighing to herself, the tall Aeri dropped down beside the other Nequus and gave him another nudge. Hopefully he would soon awaken and then she'd be able to stop worrying completely.

The splotched mare smiled up at Hasani, muscles she hadn't been aware of tensing beginning to relax. He was alright then, she'd known he would be; a healthy stallion like him didn't just keel over all of a sudden. "No," Nyx said after a moment with a slight shake of her head. "Not now at any rate. You were lying very still for a while there and, silly though it is, I was a bit worried... Are you alright? You woke up quite suddenly there." And in the manner of one waking from unpleasant dreams, too.

The Aeri mare looked up at the larger Nequus, hoping that if he had been having nightmares she would be able to do something to help. If he didn’t want to talk about it then she wouldn’t press but, so far as she’d been told and learned herself, it was better to talk about things like that. Perhaps it was different for different people, especially people of different gender, but she’d certainly felt better after talking over the incident with her brother with some of her friends.

The splotched mare looked away from the other Aeri, a thoughtful frown on her face. "Well I..." She had a duty, she couldn't abandon it. But her duty had almost lost him to her once already. Would this be able to work long term? Would he understand if she decided to stay or would it make him think she didn’t care about him? "Well..." She'd said that twice now. "I don't know," Nyx sighed, hauling herself to her feet and giving a shake as she turned her gaze back onto Hasani.

He was as close to perfect as she was ever likely to find. "I'd like to go with you, to help you," she began slowly, "but I don't know if I can. I am... I am not just myself, not just my own heart and wants. I've already put myself before my herd once lately, I don't know if I can do it again..." The tall mare sighed to herself and scuffed at the ground underhoof. Surely nothing too awful could happen here without her if she found a good Nequus to keep things ticking over for her.

“If I can find somebody I trust to manage things in my stead, I'll come," she decided with a nod to the red-eyed stallion before her. "I think I can probably do that; I've never had a break from things since I started at this so I doubt anyone will make a fuss about me heading off with you for a while." The orange and blue Aeri looked up at Hasani for a moment before nudging his neck gently. "When do you want to leave?" she asked with a smile.

Nyx nodded slowly, her short tail twitching in sympathy to Hasani's flowing train of moonlight white. "Alright Hasani," she agreed slowly. "I'll head back for now, talk to everyone and see if I can find somebody to take care of things for a while." Even if she could go, ought she to or was this something that was too personal for her presence?

Sighing to herself the splotched Aeri nuzzled at the other Nequus' strong neck. "If I don't end up going with you... Well I'll be waiting here for you to come back; I promise you that." She was taking a lot of gambles on this midnight stallion but, as her father had always told her, if one ventured nothing one gained only the same.

Still, better to make the decision now than to worry about it on the way back to where most of the herd grazed or slept. "Hasani... Do you want me to come? If you ask it, if you really want it I'll find a way to make it happen." She was good at findings ways to make things happen. "But if you don't, if you'd rather take some time away to figure this out on your own, that's fine too. As I say, I'll be waiting here for you to return if you do go alone."

She trusted that he would, that he wouldn't find something in himself that drew him away from her forever. It would be like one of those sad but romantic stories she'd loved as a filly if he didn't return. The mare who spent her whole life standing on a hilltop waiting for her love to return. It wasn't as though she had to mate or anything. A few generations back, the last of the bloodline that that had ruled before her own had been barren. That mare had chosen her heir rather than bourn one and nobody had minded.

So if he did go alone and didn't come back it would only be herself that suffered, not the herd and that was what mattered. Herself she could gamble and was willing to for a chance at the wild, all encompassing love she'd dreamed of since foalhood.

A small smile came over the mare's face and she gave the tall red-eyed stallion's shoulder another nuzzle as she awaited an answer.

Nyx bobbed her head in assent to the blue Aeri's decision. "Right then," she said aloud, "I'll head back to the others and let them know what's going on." Smiling faintly the blue-splotched mare lent up to blow in the red-eyed stallion's ear. "Follow me when you're ready to, I'll be ready to leave with you by dawn."

So saying, the leather-winged female turned aside and set off towards the most populated area of her lands at an easy canter. She would be ready by dawn but quite how remained to be seen. She hoped she would achieve it without shouting or having to pull rank overmuch; she did dislike conflict. Nevertheless, if she was pushed she would put her hooves down, her ears back and raise her powerful voice against anyone who had a problem with her decision. Hasani needed her and she was damned if she was going to let some stuffy idiots keep her from his side.

Nyx found a smile creeping easily across her muzzle as she spotted the dark stallion moving towards her. She made no move to meet him in the middle, too lost in watching the smooth grace of his powerful legs to even think of such a courtesy.

"Hi," she managed after a few moments of speechlessness; how had he chosen her? She still couldn't believe it. "So," she went on eventually, "shall we get moving? Everything's sorted here." And it was too, well sorted. Things had gone better than she could ever have hoped. Her advisors had grinned knowingly and the elders had chuckled over her 'wisely foolish young heart'. She wasn't quite sure what they’d meant by that but there had been smiles on every mouth and in every eye so it was probably alright.

Leaning up and gathering her courage close, Nyx whispered three words into Hasani's ear. "I love you." And she did. She didn't know him completely yet but her gut had always known better than her head and it wrenched at her whenever she too far from the red-eyed Aeri beside her. This was right.

It looked like she had her fillyhood fantasy coming to life after all.

As her words were returned Nyx grinned stupidly. Wow. Somebody up there definitly liked her, that or she was just very, very luck. "Yes," she replied, giving Hasani's shoulder a nudge, "I'm ready; let's get going shall we?"

It would be nice to see some more of the world; her whole life to date had been spent within D'ob and most of it within this particular section of the valley. What lay beyond she knew only from the stories travellers brought to her. It would be wonderful to see some of those sights with her own eyes.

Still grinning, the splotched mare set off at an easy walk; today just kept getting better.