Third Circle (open)

She could only stare open mouthed at the filly currently hanging from a tree. Then she smiled wide enough to split her face before rapidly bowing her head saying I am not worthy. I am not worthy. I stand in the shadow of your amazingness! before straightening up. Yes, I do very much like strawberries. I have strawberry flavored clouds. I can run home real fast and get some along with the crystals and moss. Or you could come with me. I have a frozen lake you could jump on, and this one wouldn't break she promised with a wide grin. She hoped that the little one decided to go with her. She had the perfect cavern in mind if she did.

She blinked and blinked again, surprised into laughing. This sure was a funny mare! Strawberry clouds and head bobbles all in one. How could anyone hope to eat, much less 'bring' a cloud? She'd seen clouds, as they were on the ground in one of her bondmate's homes, and it was mostly just dampness inside; dampness with not nearly enough light. He did make up for that with his beautiful lightning shows, though...

No clouds, she said, tucking her knees by her chin in amusement as she swayed back and forth from the giggle. Go bring stuff and I'll look.

With that, and a flutter of her wings, she began to swing back and forth, idling on the branch while she waited.

She wasn't interested in jumping on ice any more - she couldn't get a good look at the trinkets while hopping about, and now was trading time. And besides that, she wasn't nearly stupid enough to follow some random mare home. She only had permission to explore out here, and if she stayed in this area she knew her mama could reach her easy; Nova had said so. She didn't know why this area was special and thought her mom was enjoying a good lie in the sun back home, but she did know the basics of realm shifting and thought it had something to do with that (which her mother had counted on when she'd followed just out of sight).

And besides all that, she still wanted to explore a bit more. And maybe figure out what felt so very different here. There was only the one sun, so that might be why it seemed less bright; and there was no duality in the air of brightly burning suns heating her flesh while the cold wind sucked the air from her lungs.

It was milder in general, she supposed. She didn't know if she really liked that.

Spectrum, a bit disappointed, turned and ran back the way she came. When she made it to her mountain she went in through a secret entrance at the bottom that led to a vent of warm air. If you time it just right you can get a free ride to any level of the mountain. She rode the vents to the cavern and pulled out a crystal with a sharp tug. Some rock and moss still clung to it, but that was okay. It gave her less to carry. She rode the vents back down and rushed to the meeting area. She set her load down and finally got a good look at it. The crystal was sunset pink shot through with swirls of gold and in the middle was the shape of a butterfly. Her crystals always had a shape in the middle for some reason. The moss at the base was a bright neon green with flecks of purple here and there, and it still glowed brightly even in the sunlight. The bright green shown through the crystals sending bits of pink light everywhere. She quickly looked up to see the filly's reaction to her merchandise.

While AuraSidra had experience in trading with the bear-folk, she was still a filly; the sight of the clear (if dusty) crystal shooting light all over the place from the multi-hued moss that illuminated it straight through had her literally falling from the tree.

She'd practiced until she could dismount her hanging position with something resembling grace thanks to the aid of her wings, but at that moment she sort of forgot all about that; in fact, she forgot she was in a tree. She did however remember fairly quickly once she landed on her head and inhaled a mouthful of snow.

Sputtering, she scrambled to her hooves and quickly brought her nose down to get a closer look. She didn't need to squint; her eyes were made for bright light. Between the glaring dual suns that blanketed her in warmth and the vast rolling hills of ice and snow that speckled her grass, her home would be downright blinding for most; this crystal didn't even begin to compare.

Do dey grow nat'rally in you cave? she asked, her speech taking a massive downward spike as she struggled to keep her jaw hinged. She had to have this. She had to get one for each of her bondmates, and maybe her bonded too, and maybe her bonded's clan, and certainly a whole slew saved up for the bearfolk who she was sure would be willing to give her a whole trunk full of honey, and maybe just one extra just for herself - after all, her mama had pretty charms in her tail, and her poppa had wind chimes in his cave - and oh, wouldn't that be perfect, to make a chime out of these crystals for him! -, why couldn't she have an ice palace that glowed? Because that is so what she would do, put this in the base of each of her ice spires and have it just blast that glow all over her home.

So maybe like twenty for herself.

Except...

Except if they didn't grow naturally, if there were only a few, she couldn't do that. And if there were only a few, even trading one would be worth a lot of sweets; bees would make more honey, but if it was limited then there wouldn't be any more of these.

She couldn't take all of Spectrum's pretty trinkets away. Even if her chest did squeeze from desire.

She grinned with pride at the little ones approval of her stock. But she did wince when the foal landed on her head. That couldn't have felt good. She answered in an off hand, almost careless way Oh, yeah. They grow all throughout the mountain. This is a small one. There are some bigger than that tree you were hanging from she said, hoping to entice her to come visit. She was still eager to show off the best cavern in her mountain. She smiled and hedged Soo, is it honey worthy?

She thought she might burst from the bubbling excitement that threatened to spill over - the size of that tree! She could certainly light up her spires with that. Maybe have some of the smaller ones up at the top, too... Like stars that had fallen to the ice.

Somehow, through no small amount of effort, she did manage to keep some semblance of thought; although it was a tenuous state, at best.

But dey grow, she said wanting to be absolutely sure, Not found all ova, dey grow, right? Is not just so many?

The poor thing was practically vibrating in her eagerness.