Kahlua

Kahlua! The sound was unmistakeable. Even with the whirl of the chilly wind in her ears, even above the sound of her hooves sloshing through the snow, she knew name and she knew the voice. And that frown of determination, that look that she had almost never worn before, melted from her face like the heat of the spring had come upon her. In it's place she wore a smile, wide and bright, eyes dancing as she turned to find him. It was difficult, he was like a tiger in the brush or a chameleon on a branch, blending into his native element. After all, he was the Frost Heart, as she had learned at some point in the caves. But she did not find him to be so frozen. And so the Sunshower descended upon him, determined to smother him in her warmth, her joy.

Resplendence always asked her if she ever stopped bouncing. Today she did not. She bounded, she leaped, she soared as she came through the powdery fluff, as much a child as she was a queen. The only thing that actually stopped her from just barreling into the brute, crashing into the ground with him, and then laughing in her brilliant, dancing way was the form of the owl on his back. An owl, that was most certainly not Irma. So the confused overo turned her boisterous canter into a curious walk and almost tilted her head. “A new friend?” she wondered aloud, before bursting into a brilliant chortle. What did it matter? She had found him.

“Mauja,” she cooed as she closed what little space remained, reaching out with her nose to touch her neck, if he had not forgotten their friendship the way the darkness had forgotten the light. But she did not worry or doubt for a moment. She trusted him to the world's end and back, her reasoning probably a mysterious jumble of nothing to any outside observer. But she would not have been Kahlua if she didn't dive head first into every situation with all the energy she possessed in her body. She had no fear of Mauja betraying her trust. She did not know such thoughts.

When she finally stepped back from his neck, shuffling through the snow, she raised her head, shaking out her mane just slightly, arching it a tad, remembering the beauty she had once demanded of herself. “Mauja,” she repeated again, but the word held a different tone than it had before. It was serious, a snicker hidden beneath his name, as though she was trying to suppress the sound and failing. “Bow to your queen.” But she could not keep up the charade, could not stay so serious, and she quickly devolved into a new round of laughter, throwing her head back for the pure hilarity of the whole thing. The image of the giant Frost Heart bowing before her was an image too absurd for her own mind.

If he had not seen her at her very worst, he would probably think her crazy now. But she wasn't crazy- simply joyous. Too many months of fear, of shadows, of stony walls had been killing her joy. Now it overtook her, making her the brilliant, shining star that she was today.