Oh honey, what's wrong? The instant and obvious concern from the other mare was beyond comforting to the mare. So, when Alysanne stepped forward to reach out her neck, Kahlua could not help but fall against her and bury her head into the painted mare's withers. Or at least try, so long as the pegasus would have her there. The warmth and closeness to another were a familiar feeling that the mare couldn't have been more grateful for. But sometimes tears help too, so selfishly she let a few more drops fall before she tried to dry her eyes. While she did so, the other mare continued speaking. Aly, she introduced herself, and Kahlua silently repeated the name to herself a few times as was her habit. The distraction was welcome and ultimately helped the mare to at least stop her crying. She was still wallowing deep in her terrible self-pity, but at least she was doing it in a slightly more controlled manner.

Taking a deep breath, Kahlua disentangled herself from the other mare just as another pegasus walked onto the scene. This one was young, tiny even, but Kahlua did not think anything in to the fact that he was away from his mother. Even if she hadn't been in such a terribly upset state of mind, she wasn't often smart enough to make such connections. In fact, she really thought that the colt belonged to Aly, until he introduced himself and the pegasus mare introduced herself back. Dust, she said to herself, but could not repeat the name again. It made her think too much of the way the dust and rocks had billowed up around Antheia just as she had stepped backwards off the cliff.

Snorting, not at either of her companions, but rather at the fact that she was about to start crying again, Kahlua decided to get back to the mare's original question, after a proper hello. “Hello Aly, Dust,” she said with a nod to each in turn. Not one to hide anything, for she was no liar or actress, the mare let her troubles out into the air. “I just... I don't even know what happened. Antheia, my friend... she was fine, I thought... But then she was on the cliff, and she walked off and... Oh!” She stopped short, stifling another round of tears before speaking again. Her normally dancing voice was laced with troubles that should not have belonged to the poor, stupid girl. “And then the stupid bird. I got lost in his corn maze and... I didn't mean it! But he made me wear these mushrooms and I just look.... I just look so terrible!” A single tear dropped down her face as she looked back to her hind end and shuddered at the terrible things just growing there, like tumors that she did not want.

Taking a few deep breaths, she tried to gather herself together. Though she was not exactly right in her head, she needed to start over. This was no way to make friends or recruit others. “Forgive me,” she said then, trying to put Aly first in her thoughts and let her other troubles drift somewhere to the back of her head. “I suppose you are looking for a home?” For the most part, she spoke to Aly. She did not ignore the colt out of rudeness or bad disposition, but rather because she was afraid that he would ask for her to take him under her metaphorical wing. She was no mother-figure. The idea of caring for something so much more needy than herself was... painful at best. It would just be another reason for her to cry. “The members of the Qian, my herd, seek peace. If that is not your calling, I'm sure we can direct you somewhere that would fit you better...” She trailed off, looking between both colt and mare. She took a few deep breaths, trying to stay calm, but the way the wind was blowing against the mushrooms and making them tickle her hide was threatening to make her cry again with every gust.

.KAHLUA