"My poor tail!" he moans, looking over his shoulder at it. The mare beams back at him, highly pleased. Then she notices you and spits Ni's hair out, skipping? over to you and grinning.

"Sella li! I'm MOREILLI!" She's far too excitable for her age. Grey strands mix with the black and white of her mane and tail, the ebony in her coat faded slightly. Her horn and hoofs are all shining with health, however, and judging by the glitter in her eyes, she's but a foal!

You grin back at her and she gives you a wink, tugging on your shirt sleeve with her teeth. "Oh, you MUST see the fillies," she gushes, pulling you off the path. "One of them is Quanta's darling daughter and I think she's simply beautiful! Of course, she looks just like her mother, but.. well, Risil looked like her Da. 'Bout time I got 'my own' daughter, ne? And they're both grown now! It's AMAZING! Verin is so tall, and Med... er... she's much bigger than she used to be!" You give her a quizzical look, and she lets you go just long enough to whinny loudly. You soon hear the tingling sound of.. bells? and a lean mare, looking like a younger version of Moreilli, walks out into the open.

"Ki 'Eilli?" she asks, gaze flicking from her mother to you. She gives a calm nod in greeting to you before turning her attention back to her dam. The older mare just beams quietly, so the younger swings her head back to you.

"You are a visitor, eh?" She sniffs at your head curiously, the tips of her chocolate mane brushing up against your nose and causing you to sneeze. This earns a snort of amusement, and the mare takes a respectful step back.

"Forgive me. Humans are still a curiosity to me; we so rarely get them in the meadows. I think that Kliy scares most of them off." She gives a lopsided grin at the mention of the stallion. "Oh, if only he were a native Gavanian species..."

"Ver," Moreilli warns, giving her daughter a sideways look. The mare rolls her eyes.

"Well, he's handsome, you've got to admit!" She gives you a wink. "Ve Verin'deesta, Silver Bells in your tongue." She idly lifts her left hind foot, lowering her head down enough so that she can peer fondly back at it.

"These bells," she explains, jerking her hoof so that they jangle together, "are what I was named for. A birthing day gift from my parents that I've grown overly attached to. These used to fit loosely around my head, but now they're permanently wrapped around my ankle. My hoof has grown too large to slide it off." She chuckles.

"Not that I would ever dream of removing them, anyway. They make it a little hard to sneak around, but subtlety doesn't run in the family." She gives her mother a wry look, who coughs and pushes you forward a ways.

"Now to meet Med! Sure'n my blue-horned daughter can't be that interesting. Med, now, she's quite the character." You pause. 'Characters' have never really left memories of pleasant experiences in your mind. Nevertheless, Moreilli drags you a few more feet down.

"Med! Meeeeeeeeeeed! Vi nuck?"

"Ve nuck! Tine med--whoa, HUMAN." A little filly appears at your side, chest heaving. She's fuzzy all over, with a tiny pair of wings sprouting out of her shoulders and her coloring resembling a broken rainbow. A small black cord is looped over her neck, and dangling from it is a garish gold dollar sign.

"Where'd you drag this one from, eh, Illi? It wouldn't even make good fodder for the tufta." She saunters over to you, a swagger in her step and a gleam in her coal black eyes. "I don't suppose that you have any... CANDY?!" You shake your head and take a step back. The demented filly drops her jaw in a grin and winks.

"M'name's Med'hu'de'cashta, One in a Million. Seems I'm a freak of nature, genetically speaking. I've got all recessive traits."

"Is that what stunted your growth?" you ask sympathetically. Her eyes narrow and she drops her head so her tiny horn is pointing right at your knee cap. Deadly.

"MY GROWTH IS NOT STUNTED. I'M CHENAIDA. CHE-NAI-DA!"

Moreilli leans over at helpfully whispers, "She's a pony." You give a meek nod. Med seems to calm slightly, opening her mouth as if to speak again. She doesn't get the chance to, for a unicorn stallion--only about a foot taller than Med--is suddenly smack in the center of the clearing.

"C'mon," Ni'a'ni orders, looking a little perturbed. "*I'm* your guide, so you're to stay with *me*." Med and Moreilli both lock gazes and exchange smirks before giving A'ni obedient nods and stepping away. You humor the stallion and follow after him, waving goodbye to the mares before you go.