Keeper-
Evergreen needles begin to mix with the snarly hairs of her tail as she rubs her haunch against the bark. It roughens up her fur but calms the itch and maybe calms something more in her - that restlessness that had built itself up, been gathering over hour upon hour the longer she had stood there in the field, seeing all the horses go by without really seeing them.
To him, she attaches some measure of interest if only because he had the foresight to shack up beneath the evergreens and stand watch against the night though for what reason he stayed more wakeful than most, she could not begin to guess at nor would she ask him - each had their reasons, and Keeper’s was that she slept beneath the now bare arms of a red maple in Hyaline and did not trust herself to sleep in a place such as this.
He answers her and in truth, Keeper expected no less than what he admits to - yes, he’s new and she had known that. Few of them that come to the field are anything but and she’s met one or two that were born here, before the face of the earth changed at the mountain’s uprising. Most though, have never been here from before and come now only after. Her ears fixate on him because his voice is a combination of gravel and water, hard and smooth, and she could listen to stories come from his mouth for hours on end. If he has those stories to tell but again, some things Keeper does not ask - not yet, for all that she is curious to know.
“No,” followed by a small lilt of a laugh. “Not new at all.” her assurance is brief but friendly as the quiet ensues for a few moments more until Keeper breaks it. “I take it that means you are in need of a home, huh?” Still no introductions have been made but those come in time. She will remember her manners before decisions are made but she is eager to suss out his intentions here, to linger longer in the field staring at those who sleep and dream, or does he long for adventure beneath that brooding exterior? Keeper grows curiouser and curiouser!
not knowing how deep the woods are and lightless