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The encroaching dark made Inali into a mere shadow on the landscape, though her mane and tail seemed to blaze in what little light was left. The mare had decided to wake up later and stay out during the night, curious to see what other soquili she could discover in a world lit only by fragile moonlight.

Breaking into a graceful, collected canter, Inali ran through small hills and across a small plains area, before nearing the river. She was thirsty now, and sweat clung to her coat in places. It was a good thing there was no one around... Thought uncompleted, Inali spotted a figure, another dark smudge against the land. Drawing closer, the shape resolved itself into a stallion. Fantastic. Just what Inali wanted- encounters with a stallion. Her patience for the male gender was at a minimum at that moment. If it had been a mare, she would not have minded. Female companionship was always welcome. But instead, it was a stallion, sure to be full of himself. They all needed to be knocked down a peg, in Inali's opinion.

Well, just because she didn't want to see him there didn't mean she could be rude. "Greetings." Inclining her head to the dark shape, Inali bent to take her own drink, silver eyes still watching the stallion out of the corner of her eye. When she came up again, she stared at him sharply, before allowing him her name. "I am Inali." There was nothing more to say, and Inali could find no conversation suitable. She didn't want to see him there, to be frank, and she couldn't bring herself to be any more friendly than that, though she hid it rather well (in her opinion).

Normally, Inali never found herself stilted for conversation, but in her present frame of mind she found it difficult to bring up conversation with this stallion. Nothing about him was making his presence any easier for Inali to bear, though she knew fully well that she wasn't judging him fairly. Sighing inwardly, she attempted a smile. It was a weak one, but pleasant enough, and fairly genuine. Inali enjoyed meeting new soquili. Her patience just wasn't the best today.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." That sounded genuine. Her temper clearing up, Inali stopped to examine the stallion that stood before her. He was a handsome soquili, if oddly colored, with vines climbing up his back and red markings surrounding his legs, but Inali didn't judge on appearance alone. Handsome stallions did not guarantee a nice temperament.

"What are you doing out so late in the day?" Pleasant, light conversation was coming more easily from Inali now, as she bent her head once more to drink of the river, keeping her eyes firmly on the stallion the entire time. She couldn't trust him yet; not entirely.

Well, fair enough. Inali hadn't explained what she was doing there, but before she could, Autiren had launched into his own explanation.

"The air is much cooler now than it was earlier. It was intolerably hot." Trivialities about the weather were next. See what a good lady Inali could be? She mentally snorted again, hating the mind numbing pleasantries that always came before you knew someone properly enough to discuss different things.

Time for Inali's own story as to what she was doing out this time of the evening. "I thought I would stay out at night, for once. See what sort of different soquili I could find." Thus far, she wasn't overly impressed with Autiren, but she was liking him well enough. He was warming to her by the minute, though if this small talk continued, Inali didn't think she would ever remember him beyond this night.

"And am I in your way?" Arching a silver brow, Inali waited for his response. She was baiting Autiren, she knew, but the red mare was finally starting to take pleasure in the conversation.

Well, that wasn't the answer Inali was expecting. A rise from the stallion would have been nice, and she felt her mood abruptly descend back into boredom at the entire stilted conversation. Did no one have any fire or any passion anymore? No one except herself, that is.

"Well, I don't want to prevent you from continuing your run, or going home, or whatever it is that you were planning to do." Inali tried not to make her words sound like a dismissal, but what more was there to say? Autiren didn't seem like much of a conversationalist, and Inali couldn't carry everything on her back.

Also shifting awkwardly, the red mare tried to hide her general discomfort at the way this was all heading. Her tail only showed her agitation, as it lashed back and forth, as if it was swatting at flies, though none could be out at this time of day.

Inali snorted out loud this time, her eyes locked upon Autiren. "But the river isn't exactly belonging to anyone. I was just going to move on myself anyway." No, Inali did not want this boring stallion as her company any more. Inevitably, he would try to charm her, and she would not fall for that act any more. Not again!

"I have an inherent distrust of all stallions, mainly because they turn out to be insufferable. Boring, full of themselves, thinking they can get any mare." Inali did not like the smirk on Autiren's face one bit, and jumped forward to judge his character. He was clearly one of those stallions, in her mind, regardless of his true nature. Her patience was wearing thin again.

Clearly, Autiren didn't care. but Inali told him anyway. If he had any plans on her, he would do best to forget them and let her leave. Muscles tensing, Inali turned her head to walk away, retaining her pride and her hasty judgement on the poor stallion.

"Your father is the opposite, but I see you don't vouch for yourself." Quick to pick up on that, Inali regarded Autiren keenly again, blinking her large silver eyes owlishly. Her expression was peeved, and quite frankly, the mare's mood was again beginning to worsen. What was with her? She couldn't say for sure- only that this stallion seemed to get under her skin more than most.

"You're saying you would actually keep a mare, rather than abandoning her for the next pretty trifle?" Feigning astonishment, Inali snorted again, pawing at the ground with one of her large hooves. "I would make a bet on that. If I could find you the right mare, and you stayed with her for over a year, I'd give you something. I don't know what. If you abandoned the mare in under a year, you would have to give me something." If there was anything Inali loved, it was competition, and with her anger now channeled, there was a gleam in her eyes.