His intrusion had predictably not gone unnoticed for long. From inside the Court's shadowed entry hall emerged a mare with the night sky splashed across her painted flesh. The Dawn Court had been almost suspiciously vacant save Rostislav, who by his behavior obviously did not "belong" there. This mare moved with the effortless self-confidence of a creature in its element.
Martin slowed just enough to buy time to read Rannveig's intentions, loosening up as it became apparent he was not about to be sent home with a basketful of painful raspberries for his presumptuousness. Bobbing his head lightly in greeting, the gilded stallion met her smile with one of his own. "I am Martin, from the north."
By his mother's reckoning - and, as far as he had ever seen, this particular bit was sound - one of the easiest ways to plant the seeds of trust was to introduce oneself thus. He might not know what Delumine was, but she almost certainly did, and starting trouble after giving her even that much information would have been incredibly stupid. That he had only just arrived there made little difference to the unicorn: he intended to live there if he could, for as long as he could.
His sea-blue eyes drifted over the star-marked mare's shoulder to the court behind her, tracing the contours of its exquisite stonework with wistful curiosity.
"What is this place? There is nothing like it where I was born."
@Rannveig
