Ruske;;

      Ignorant as I was then to the recent strife in our herd history, I received Kahlua’s call to gather with surprise. I had been grazing near the cliffside, enjoying the shade of the forest’s eaves, when the summons came. Reluctantly I left to answer it. I hoped the effort would prove worthwhile, but no particular interest thrilled my thoughts as I approached the clearing. Others gathered there as well, all drawn by the voice of our queen: Brisa, Resplendence, faces now familiar after the brief time I had spent living alongside them. A magnificent, crystalline dragon stood among them, distracting my attention from the meeting at hand for a moment or two. It was like the glass wall, I reasoned, and like the herb gathering basket. Had Kahlua placed it here? It lent a magnificence to the meeting ground, though I wondered why the statue took that shape and not another. Clearly, better times for such a question would arise.

      I fell into the throng without speaking. Ripping my attention from the statue, I studied the pegasus stallion at Kahlua’s side: Kaj, no doubt. Evangeline had given me a name, but I had never seen the king’s face before. He stood proudly, though even a cursory glance at his features revealed the stains of battle. For the first time that day, I realized with a shock the meeting may have been called in more gravity than I had imagined. What was going on? While I wandered about ignorantly, had we been under attack? I counted myself lucky, but stood at wary attention at at last Kahlua began to speak. Her voice betrayed exhaustion I had never heard in it before. Upon closer examination, I saw also a weariness to her posture, and my concern deepened. Frowning, I listened to the whole of her story. Aurelia... was she even capable of rational action? Unfamiliar voices spoke out almost immediately in reaction to Kahlua’s question. I listened with some regret, wondering if I’d grown soft to disagree with the militant few who required banishment. Aurelia was barely past childhood – what good was treating her with cruelty? Fortunately, Resplendence spoke sense, as did a dark stallion whose name and face escaped me. I nodded in agreement with their words. If nothing else, the girl deserved a chance to defend herself. The fool.

      Kaj spoke next. Much to my surprise, he explained the source of his wounds was something entirely different. His questions were more complex than the matter of Aurelia’s punishment. I knew only a little of the Basin from Resplendence, and felt ill-equipped to speak with any authority on the matter. Instead, I listened to the opinions of the others. Most expressed reserve, an attitude I agreed with based upon my own limited knowledge. Of this Asylum I knew even less, though the single man from those ranks I had run across was kind enough. Even if wariness was wise, shutting ourselves off from the rest of the world... what good could come of that? “Our goal is peace, isn’t it?” I wondered aloud. “Perhaps offering our trust is the best way to foster that peace.” I wasn’t sure, myself. Perhaps it wasn’t my place to speak at all – but I had never been skilled at keeping my silence or guarding my thoughts. I remained silent as the others spoke of leaving on a mission of diplomacy. Though I had, myself, attended to such matters in the past, they had been neither pleasant nor productive. I was more than happy enough to remain in the Edge and offer whatever services I might while the others attended to political talk.

      The mood of the meeting, at least, did not linger on the sour notes of bad news for too long. I felt a blossoming of pride as Evangeline was gifted with some kind of... flower. It appeared magical in nature, though from a distance I could not divine its nature. I smiled nonetheless, attempting to catch her eye and vowing privately to congratulate her sometime in the future. She deserved acknowledgement, young though she was. She had experience in the trials of leadership I expected many others at the meeting lacked. A few more awards were given out; I listened with little interest to the assignment of military ranks. If anyone expected me to show an interest in fighting... they were to be sorely disappointed. I merely rolled my eyes in answer to this talk. No; I might die at the hand of violence, still, but I would rather die a pacifist than struggling to inflict wounds on another. That I had decided long ago.