He smiled at her as she stepped closer to the inviting flames, a warm and tender expression saved only for those he considered family. Rishima's daughter held a place in his heart that was shared only with the daughters of Mirage and Smoke; they invoked something paternal with the stallion, a wish for something he never believed himself able to get. These fillies and their mothers were the closest thing to a family he'd come since he left his mothers side, and despite their lack of blood ties Lace knew that he would do anything to protect them.

Yet there was nothing he could do for this moon-touched girl as she asked for her mother. His heart broke for her as she pleaded at him, the hope in her eyes cutting deeper than any curse or hateful word could ever do. The smile that curved his lips faltered, weakening to be replaced by a look of regret and sadness. "I don't know..." he said softly, hating to have to disappoint her. "I haven't seen her in a long while. Maybe she's..."

He never got the chance to finish what he was about to say. The false sense of security he'd had shattered like glass as dark, dreadful words singed the air from outside the shelter of woven branches. Before Lace even had time to react Tandavi's little fox sprung into motion and flung fire from its tail towards the infectious menace that loomed in the opening. Before his astonished gaze the girl he was supposed to protect produced a flaring, wavering orb of liquid fire, the same as he himself had begun to grasp for in his mind - she thrust it towards the evil demon as it stepped towards her and bounded out the opening, separating herself from his side as the sun exploded.

"East, Tandavi!" Lace screamed after her as he retreated away from the blast, wincing and grimacing as the searing flames lapped at his own skin with painful burns as a result. "Run east, find Fajira!" Coughing and wheezing as hot air scorched the throat the grullo blinked through the dazzling light of the explosion and locked his gaze on the wraith outside the shelter, realizing that he had to do something to keep it from following the red girl.

For the second time he reached for the slumbering power within and made contact with the trees that surrounded him, cursing at the cooling seasons that made controlling the wood so much more difficult. With a creaking sound roots shot up from the ground where the wraith had been standing last time he checked, coiling and tightening around what the white-maned stallion hoped to be a leg - he wanted to keep the beast in place, to prevent it from disappearing as he simultaneously summoned a sun of his own. With it hovering between them as his mind quickly shaped the orb Lace glared grimly at the creature that had once been a unicorn mare, desperately counting seconds in hope that each one stalled would be a second that let Tavi get to safety - if such a place even existed in this world. He was starting to doubt it.

"Come, Demon!" he shouted, rearing up with hooves flailing in grim determination, issuing a challenge that might end up being his last. A thought went to a small white dragon somewhere in the wasteland, longing for her presence - yet Fajira was too far away for words to make it through, and the only thing he felt as he let the orb of fire explode was a faint stir, a flicker of emotion he could only describe as pride.

With a smile he threw himself forward, teeth bared as he leaped into the raging flames, prepared to fight this darkness until he could no longer move.

ooc:
@[Random Event], @[Illynx]
Lace tries to tie Illynx in place with a root to keep her from escaping, then detonates a sun at her again before attacking physically.

Dim vales- and shadowy floods-
And cloudy-looking woods,
Whose forms we can't discover
For the tears that drip all over!
Huge moons there wax and wane-
Again- again- again-