Her shyness is almost endearing, a fleeting softness that draws from my memories of slave girls with barren faces and cowed dispositions, always sweet, always tactful. I miss my slaves, many days in this land. My mane is never as clean or without tangle as it was in prior years, and I am horribly reminded of my encounter with the oafish unicorn who assisted me gathering my mane to cart infantile, egg form Skýlos about in. Stretching both wings towards the heavens as we begin our work on the young trees, I am reminded again of the incident as the wind blows through the growing gap in my feathers.

I glance at the dog, half heartedly chewing on her paw, my eyes narrowed with disgust. If I had known that this was what I was going to get when I found the egg, I’d have let the idiot have it. The puppy has few uses and cannot even assist in repairing the damage she has caused in any other manner than disciplining the vehicles that had delivered her to the scene of the crime, and I resent her for the way she makes my very body want to smash her into pieces; how my mind weeps when presented with such a violent thought.

I return to the saplings. They are less tedious than my fool of a hound.

Who quite suddenly abandons her paws and is off again, a blue dart out of my vision. I glance at the strange mare, an apology writ once again on my face. "Excuse me, one moment. My idiot has run off again."

Turning around to deal with the puppy, I discover another in the distance, his own young dog alongside him chewing on what seems to be the remains of Skýlos’ rabbit. Dog is charging with full innocent might towards them both, gleaming blue eyes trained on the other puppy who has the most wonderful toy in all the land, desperate to reach the game before I catch her.

It is interesting, this connection of emotion; how she knows she’s about to get kicked and I know that she gives not a damn so long as she gets to touch the other puppy before I get there. I roll my eyes exasperatedly at the entire situation, tail slashing through the air and striking my sides quick viciously as I close the small distance between the two parties; enough time, of course, for Skylos to reach the pair, assumingly to raise chaos with her new canine friend judging by the sheer elation I feel surging through me as they meet.

"Excuse me," I say for the second time to the unicorn stallion, endlessly frustrated that my stupid dog has forced me into poor company for the second time today so that I can apologize and barter for their kindness in the face of her obscene capriciousness. Snatching the pup up by the scruff of the neck, I give the man a nod before trotting back over to the trees, not so gently dropping her to the ground alongside the ruined grove.

Her mental anguish is almost punishing in and of itself, until it is paired with that face. Growling with the sigh that escapes my lips, I glance back over my shoulder at the stag after giving yet another apologetic wince to the equine I am attempting to help. This game of playing nanny grows old. Perhaps she would like a dog. "Do you mind coming closer so that Idiot Dog might play with your companion and I can still repair the damage she’s already done? I can’t focus with all this pouting going on."

Cealestis