This place is so new and different, so strange and yet oddly satisfying. There’s something about the Night Court that she loves. Despite the recent destruction, there’s a sense of community and she can sense it. She can feel the way the others pull together to help out and she can sense the way that this place has attracted strangers from another court and despite their differences, they work together. Yes, Katniss likes the Night Court. She feels a part of it, even though she has only arrived.

As the sun sets in the west, Katniss meanders through the court. So many have homes already designated but she has not found herself a place to settle down. She’s not used to living behind closed doors, preferring to live beneath the stars as nature had intended. It helps that the court is riddled with stone, remnants of a once great gathering place. It would have to be rebuilt, she was sure of it. And in fact, she intended to help.

The crickets chirp around her and she sighs softly in contemplation. She’s thinking about The Rift, about Metaphor, and about her home. She wonders briefly if Metaphor is alive…and if his heart years for her as hers does him. But this was not a time to dwell on love, when the world was falling apart around her. The Night Court needed her help and so, she put away those silent thoughts, intent to bring them out another day.

Eyes look above her to peer at the constellations. She wonders if they are guiding people closer or if the Gods live among them. It’s a peaceful reflection and she can feel the way a calmness rolls over her…until that calmness turns into uneasiness.

Her eyes slowly lower from the starts and peer around her. Someone is here. Something is moving amongst the shadows and it makes the warrior uneasy. It is now that she wishes she had her armor – something far more protective than only her skin and fur. “Who lurks within the shadows?” Her voice is soft as her eyes scan for movement. She thinks she see the flicker of light and her eyes search harder for the source. “Show yourself.” Perhaps it is simply another member of the Night Court – something that she cause her no distress. But until they say something, she continues to search for the figure in the night.

@Raum

Darkness had once scared the mare. Darkness had taken over her a time or two and had drawn her thoughts into something that she was not proud of. It had been darkness that had forced her to abandon her newborn fillies, darkness that had found her after Metaphor had left her. But darkness would not win tonight. Darkness would be squashed like the bugs that unfortunately got caught beneath her hooves. Darkness no longer scared her – it challenged her to be something greater and greater is what she would become.

And so, she stands confidently as she awaits the other to speak or move. She knows he’s there. She can hear the way his lungs take in breath and she can feel the way his heart beats. She is just waiting for him to decide to finally speak, to announce his presence and give up the element of surprise…though he never had it to begin with.

And when he speaks, her scanning eyes lock onto his form, the whites of his eyes giving himself away. “It was more a suggestion than a command.” Katniss knew that she was not in charge here, but she had been tasked with protecting this land and her queen. After all, she needed to know that this stranger (at least he was a stranger to her) was friend and not foe.

She’s already stepping closer to him, before he even beckons her towards him. But she is not stupid enough to come too close. She does not know what he’s hiding that could potentially harm her. And so she watches him. “I am not foolish enough to come closer. Are you friend? Or Foe?” She is not naïve enough to think he will answer truthfully, but it would be a gateway to further questions. Perhaps he was friend with ill intentions. The possibilities were endless.

@Raum