Climbing the side of a mountain.

Pago bristled. The wind blew slightly more, and snowflakes swirled about wildly.
"He is not a ferret. He takes the form of an ermine, but is not entirely. So please do not call him a ferret - it is far from the truth." Mistletoe said this calmly. After all, how was Raven supposed to know? But she did not say it with any other emotion either.

Raven shrugged.
"Looks like a ferret to me."

Mistletoe decided that she was pushing it.
"I look like a human, but no, I'm not. You look like a weirdo to me, but you may not be one. Please do not call Pago a ferret again."

Raven was about to open her mouth again until Merlas stood on her foot.
"GET THAT PIGEON OF A PONY OFF MY FOOT!" Raven shouted at Shadow, who rolled her eyes before whispering something to Merlas, who had an innocent look on her face.

Mistletoe had never been as hard pressed as she was now to not laugh. Pago openly snorted, still curled up at Mistletoe's shiny black stilettos.

Merlas lifted her hoof dantily, almost smiling at Raven. Shadow was also trying very hard to resist the urge to burst out laughing.

Mistletoe, sat back down on the stony floor, worried that if she so much as glanced up at Raven to see the look on her face she might not be able to hold in her laughter.

Shadow gently patted Merlas' neck, and Raven continued to fume. Strangely, Shadow was staring fixedly at the pagasus' mane.

Pago noticed Shadow's strange behaviour and nudged Mistletoe gently. She looked at him, who nodded his head in Shadow's direction.
"Shadow?" Mistletoe said anxiously. "Is everything allright?"

Shadow looked up, and promptly burst out laughing at Raven's fuming face. Once she got her emotions back under control, just as her magic started to go a bit haywire, she spoke.
"I was trying to avoid that."

"Avoid..." She trailed off, waiting for Shadow to finish her sentence for her.

"Laughing." Shadow said.

Raven still looked furious, and she slapped Merlas' nose. The mare looked highly offended.

Hyro had been watching this scene with an amused smile on his face until the laugh had escaped from Shadow. He'd seen the charges of magic flicked and sway like a flame in a breeze and knew that some day the flame would be sniffed and the smoke would spread. A glimmer of fear sparked inside him and her murmured something in arabic. A prayer to Ptah.

"Ah... don't you like to -" But she could sort of guess why, and stopped.
She heard the murmur of fear behind her and said to herself - "Yeah. Me too."

"It's dangerous for us." Sshadow explained.

"I gathered." She said. She too had seen the 'charges of magic'.

Shadow nodded, and looked at Raven. She had finally calmed down.

Mistletoe realised she was still wearing her coat (fur-lined in the hood) and shrugged it off. She only wore it for Pago, who needed the hood to sit in. She adjusted her shirt and shorts, smoothing out the creases.

Hyro decided to calm his fears and, seeing as the two women didn't seem to want to leave, he climbed down from the ledge and went to stand in a corner, gazing at the winged horse and the funny little snow white creature.

Pago's sleek form flowed towards Hyro, tentatively at first, but moving more confidently as he got closer.
"Hello."
Mistletoe, meanwhile, was watching him.

"Hello," replied the boy with his strong accent.
Hyro bent down, reaching out to the funny little talking creacher.

Pago didn't move, but he didn't encourage to be stroked. He wasn't one for coddling.
Mistletoe smiled, but didn't intervene.

Hyro plucked up the currage to speak and said:
"Where from you? I of Egypt. Of Temple Luxor."

Pago said, "I'm from the North. Audrey," he said, gesturing to her, is from... an Athenian forest." He finished lamely. "You see -" Audrey slid off the rock she had been leaning against, and walked away, her stilettos clacking on the rough rocky floor. Pago sighed. "She's an orphan, and can't find her family."

Shadow nodded, understanding.