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The forest felt surreal, a mixture of its natural beauty and his own excitement creating a dreamlike scenario. It wasn’t that this was the first new land he had been to; he had traveled from Solterra to Terrastella, stopping at shrines and briefly visiting the Night Court on the way, but this—this was different. As soon as he had entered the shadow of the trees he had felt it, a tingling entering his limbs and drawing him in deeper. 

Perhaps the connection he felt was both physical and a figment of his imagination, the culmination of the past year's travels. This was, after all, his first venture into Delumine, the land of sages, fashioned after the God of Wisdom himself. It was here that he hoped to learn more-- about the courts, the world, himself. There would be nothing he would overlook; from botany to politics to seemingly meaningless fairytales and personal stories, he would absorb it all. It was these thoughts, this excitement of what he hoped was to come that drew him deeper into the forest, towards the court he strove to become a part of. Caring little for the beaten path, he had plunged into the woods in no particular direction, often changing pace or doubled back on himself entirely, feeling the need to see everything the forest had to offer. It took longer, of course; but it was worth it. From the small mushrooms that hid in the hollows of trees to the sapling growing in a patch of sunlight created from an old hickory falling and leaving an opening in the canopy above: everything was new and exciting and he would be there to see it all, the melody of songbirds and squirrels filling his ears and settling his mind.

He was aware that the bluebird was still following him—or rather, that he was following the bluebird at the moment. Up ahead of him the seller’s jay continued to swoop, pausing every so many yards to wait for Po to catch up, as though he were leading the equine. Every now and then he came to rest upon a boulder or low hanging branch, looking back at Po with a seemingly knowing look. He couldn’t consider himself lost, not when he was following a creature that seemed to know where it was going.

Time passed with him hardly noticing, and he wasn’t sure how long it had been when his stellar’s jay companion seemed to lead him across the path of another equine. Their scent filled his nostrils; he stopped and inhaled deeply, cranberry eyes scanning the forest. She was walking perpendicular to him, her path lazy and wandering. Could this be another Dawn court citizen? A rush of elation poured into his veins, igniting his limbs and carrying him across the forest floor towards roaned mare. “Hello!” he called out, his tone light and friendly as he drew near. “Beautiful day isn’t it? My name is Ipomoea,” he added on almost as if introducing himself were an afterthought, halting his stride a respectable distance away from her. The blue bird that travelled with him stopping on his crest, tugging at his mane as if to say they should continue on, but Po paid him no mind. This could, after all, be a new friend, and Ipomoea would never turn down the opportunity to talk and potentially learn something new.


@Ruairi
I hope you don’t mind Po jumping in here c:
!!!

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