The stallion took the day off from watching over his flocks. The pack had it handled, nobody had come knocking on their door trying to steal them, so it was safe to say he could go off and do his own thing for the day. He made his way westward for a short trip. The season, despite being winter, was...pleasant. It wasn't too bad save for a blizzard here and there, but it was mild compared to past winters he had lived through. What he hadn't anticipated, however, is how thirsty he'd get. He had forgotten to drink before leaving, and now he was feeling a tad parched. Unfortunately for him, despite the temperate winter season, the small streams he found above ground was frozen solid. He had broken a patch here and there with his hoof, but it was still difficult to get a decent drink from the shallow streams. Instead, the stallion followed the water paths toward an underground cavern, and the further he followed, the more he could hear fresh running water. It seemed winter's reach hadn't quite been able to get its grip on the underground streams, luckily for him! Nickering with delight, he carefully and slowly made his way into the cavern. He remained alert, however, for any signs of danger. After all, horses did not belong in the underground, and he was sure that danger potentially lurked beneath the surface of the world. He remained close to the stream, ready to fight or flee should he need to. For now though, his massive head leaned toward the water and he began to drink his fill, ears on a swivel for any danger that might present itself. WC: 282/1500 "Speech"

Aster was pleased with the mild winter. She had a full belly from her morning foraging! That gave her extra energy today, and her favorite thing to do with an overabundance of energy was to discover a new place! Obviously, not a new new place… but new to her, which was practically the most useful definition of new.

The blue jay spotted the cavern, and didn’t think that much of it. However, the horse wandering inside? That was interesting! She circled back, then flew into the cavern.

“G’morning!” she chirped. If the stallion had been a wolf, she probably wouldn’t have been so bold. More than a few wolves had been absolute assholes about trying to trick her into getting close enough to eat. What assholes! Didn’t they understand cooperation between species? Aster was a blue jay, and therefore a corvid, and she had spent one season with a murder of ravens that had loose alliances with the carnivores in their area. The carnivores wouldn’t eat the ravens. And the ravens would be the carnivore’s eyes in the sky! So when the carnivores cracked open a carcass? The ravens had easy access to food. Mutually beneficial. Quite a learning experience, that autumn.

But some wolves were too dumb to know that killing a bird to eat wasn’t worth the meat and wasn’t worth the mouthful of feathers, especially when you can’t ask a dead bird ‘Hey what did you see from up there that I can kill?’

However, equines? Herd hooved animals, in Aster’s opinion, weren’t that much dumber on average than a wolf. But the dumbest equine wasn’t going to attack her. Which usually meant she had time to pitch a collaboration before the idiot listened to their belly.

With her mind decided and a noisy flutter of wing beats—to announce to him where she was, Aster was a much better flier than that!—the blue jay landed on a dry rock near the cavern’s stream. “My name’s Aster! You must be an adventurous sort, like myself, if you decided to drink water from here.” She tilted her head. “But adventures are best done in pairs! Why don’t we work together to explore this area? As a bird, I’m an excellent scout. As a horse, you can kick the shit out of anything! Perfect mix for an exploration pair.”

WC: 390/1500