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Again his meandering stroll led his hooves to the swamp. To be fair, it was one of the more interesting vistas in this sprawling kingdom, with more to look at than the vast plains and less treacherous footing than the cliffs, and free from the confinement of the Citadel walls. It was not the first time he had come here, but this time Finnian tried to pay a bit more attention to where he was going, so that he wouldn't have to suffer the embarrassment of getting himself lost, like last time. Finding landmarks in a place filled with trees and no permanent trails was not the easiest thing however, and the young unicorn sloshed through shallow water and clambered across tangled roots with a growing weight of unease in his guts, all while doing his utmost to pretend he knew exactly where he was going. The relief he felt upon finding the wooden walkway was palpable, but did not exactly aid him in his delusions. He had definitely not been here before, which meant that he had strayed somewhere, veered off course and gotten himself in another potentially sticky situation. He could hear people up ahead, someone speaking in the gathering darkness, but though he heaved himself up onto the laid down path and started off towards it, Finnian soon stopped, hesitating with the balance teetering between going forward or turning around. What if he stumbled into something he wasn't welcome to witness? For all that these people had been welcoming so far, he was still a stranger, still an outsider who knew nothing of the factions, tensions and tendencies of this Court, nor was he aware of what alliances, if any, they nurtured with more distant lands. It was, quite literally, a sticky situation to be in, and for such a peaceable, un-meddlesome person he had acquired a real habit of getting dragged into other people's problems. And yet. People would mean company, company meant that someone would know the way out of the swamp, and if he just didn't mention being lost he might be able to get back without losing too much face... though how being dragged off like a foal eavesdropping on adult conversations would be less humiliating, he still hadn't figured out. Ah well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Putting on the most casual smile he could manage the raven-haired stallion set off towards the speaker, strolling so languidly down the path that he almost laughed aloud at himself. When the path turned to reveal a pair of horses up ahead, he made a point of stepping a bit harder on the boarding, so that the two would have time to break off anything and stop before he got close enough to overhear. Lovers tryst, secret training or treasonous whispering, it didn't matter; Finnian wanted no part in it, and as long as he didn't hear anything untoward he wouldn't have to get involved. "Good evening" he said, sounding far more amiable and friendly than he felt. "I did not thing to find people out here at this hour... am I disturbing something?" Please say no, please say no. Squinting against the setting sun, he found that the silhouettes belonged to familiar figures. His smile warmed a bit as he recognized two of the people that had saved him on the beach; the big youth was unmistakable even when he was caked in mud (that would make for an interesting conversation, Finnian was sure), and there weren't enough beautiful ladies walking about with flowers in their hair for him to mistake the healer for someone else. "I believe I know ye both? Unless my memory fails me utterly, I believe I owe ye both life and thanks." He did not notice the figure lurking in the bushes, too focused on the people he could see to search the shadows for onlookers. A naive notion, a mistake his tutors would have scolded him for; but there you are, it only goes to show how slowly some learn. |
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