He was lucky he had spoken when he did, when the fiery roan was out of earshot and still high above him in the sky. She had spent days puzzling over why she had stayed her in this herd, where she was forced to conform and lost the sense of being wild. She had fallen apart in the Oasis and begged for power at the veins, power to see the future so that perhaps she could make sense of it, and she had left the threshold filled with rage and a sense that in all of her time here she had accomplished nothing. Kye had flown beside her and whistled gaily, had looped around her and performed stunts of the air that Xira herself hadn't done in years. With each dive of her Falcon, the mare had watched and wondered, wondered why she had remained so calm and acted so mature. She was not this, this creature of family bound to the herd and it's values.

She was alone and free, isolating herself from even the best that reached out to her, and she was happy with that. It was her way and her life and that was all there was to it. Nothing could change her anymore.

So when she passed over Dragon's Blood and saw the familiar face of the Ghostly Stallion she had sacrificed so much for, she almost kept flying. Kye told her quickly, earnestly, of the Stallion's thoughts- that they were of her, and nothing but her. But still Xira almost refused to stop and land, to spite him the most by passing him by and never seeing him again. But the opportunity to destroy him, to stand before him and crush his foolish heart, was not one she could pass up. Without thinking she found herself circling and cutting through the Frostfall air to press her hooves against the sand, falling so fast and far that even Kye was left behind.

There was no hesitation, no moment to reminisce and no opportunity given to rekindle. "You!" She spat, her dark bleu eyes alight and renewed with the fire they had lacked for so long, "How dare you! After all this time, to come back here to this place and wait by this tree, to wait here thinking of me and hoping I will come by to catch up on old times- after all I've done for you!" Her body morphed in and out of visiblity as the rage within her grew and she became unable to control the power gifted to her by rank. She held herself back and far enough away that she could not harm him, but still her wings flared out and her eyes glittered brightly with passion.

"Stop!" Came the young Falcon's mental cry, but Xira pushed the thought away. "What did you expect me to do, Andash? Welcome you home with a smile?" She asked. "Stop!" Came the cry again, insistent and clear. "You left me here with nothing, in this terrible place with these terrible pegasi, what makes you think you have-" "STOP!"

Xira turned in an instant to face her companion, perhaps in her violent fit to strike her from her low perch on Dragon's Blood and toss her to the ground. But there was a sense of urgency and imploration, a hesitation for just a moment that let the little bird say what she wished. "He loves," the young bird whispered into the green roan's mind. "He loves."

Her face turned from anger to horror and confusion. Her mind reeled and when she looked back at the ghostly stallion she noticed his eyes and his face and his body and for a moment she thought she saw his soul. She wanted to run and hide and hate herself for what she had said, to never face him again. Her mouth hung open slightly, she tried to speak, wanted to speak, but had nothing to say. Because in that moment she understood everything and realized everything that he did and had done and she had never even considered:

He loved.