Thick white walls loomed before me, as the mare made her way towards the city. I had been gone almost a year from home on my Journey, and was almost seventeen years of age. I remember the wind tossling my thick sable curls, adjusting them to her own liking. Dawn, the mare, was excited to be going back to her city. She was city-bred, a "gift" from the Ambassador of Angleterre.
It was their city I was on the brink of entering. Laville is it's name, the capital of Terre Angleterre and home to its King and Queen. This was going to be a new experience to me as I hadn't known any other Angletines besides the Ambassador and his entourage. I was used to the swift, cunning and occasionaly furry people of my homeland. I didn't know what to expect. It had been only a year, no two since my father inherited the Burden and became Tokeru of Matsia. Only a year and a half since he set up the alliance with Angleterre.
There had always been rumors of course of the barbaric Angletines, but I always thought them as just that, rumors. But once I came closer and closer to the gate of the city I wondered, what if they were true? I'd heard people talking of how they eat fellow creatures, gobbling up pounds of flesh at one time. My skin crawled at the thought. Others said that there were some among the nobility who actually killed for sport, sometimes obtaining an occasional Matsi, my own countrymen! I shook myself free of the dark thoughts that plagued my mind and made sure I was presentable for these new people.
I had no idea what fashions these Angletines wore or considered decent, but I hoped that mine would do. I wore a dark forest green dress that buttoned up the front, I left it open from my knees down for easier movement. It was cut to show the top of my shoulders, as the sleeves covered them. Other than that I had nothing. I wen barefoot, as all Matsi do, and let the dark green accent my features. It would bring out the amber and sorrel rings that colored my eyes. And, in the case of human contact, it would enhance the changed hue of my skin. For, at any time my skin comes in touch with human skin it would blush, and turn rosy.
All of this I knew and used to boost my confidence so I could ride straight to the gate, no matter what I thought awaited me.