onni.</style>

The looming clouds of a storm in the distance are brought to her attention, now, by the story spilling from Alina's delicate lips. The shaman listens intently, her eyes wandering over their bodies for obvious breaks, pains, or other more immediate threats. It appears that the pair of pegasus are simply cold, groggy, tired, but poor Mara, what had happened to her?

The shift of the antlered crown on the primitive stallion gathers Onni's attention to see his stormy gaze sleepily upon her. She misses the terror crossing Alina's face after the mention of her would-be passing, instead intent on instilling a face of warm understanding to the gentle giant. I am glad Lord Gaucho was near. The shaman smiles, a pleasant expression belying the circumstances. Gazing underneath the black feathered wing as it is shakily moved, the shaman gets a better view of the snake, limp and unresponsive. Upon her shoulder, even Lyhty swallows his distaste for the creature and exudes an aura of sympathy and worry, singing a small nervous trill.

"I will do my best, Gaucho," the mare says softly, face tilting upward to the sky, seeking the light of the sun. The soft golden aura that was constant around her body begins to grow, pulsate, as though she were channeling the sunlight through her spirit, her very body. White flames burst forth from her hooves, engulfing the sands around them. The mists of the ocean sizzle and evaporate against the impermeable flames, which march forward with purposeful strength to engulf the white snake between the pair of winged kin. The flames draw out the cold from the bodies surrounding it, a good old fashioned hearth that breathes life into its company.

Mara. The snake. From the outside, there was no apparent damage, and the creature appeared to be sleeping peacefully. Inside, however, the delicate bones running the length of her body had been crushed, the organs pierced, squeezed, damaged. The fires begin to course upon the most severely wounded, the dear companion of Gaucho, racing against the pulse of the reptile's cold heart. Onni's brow knits in terrible concentration, mentally feeling the injuries out, finding the most severe to repair before moving onward.

The battle taking place in the small body of the snake is intense, but Onni smiles peacefully as she begins to take a turn for the better. The fires dance and dim, fading away into speckles of sunlight before disappearing entirely. Onni opens here eyes, the soft aura of sunlight around her returning to nothing more than a sunkissed glow.