Perhaps she should have felt fright at seeing the hulking creature standing upon the cliff's edge, but in all of her times in Helovia only one monster had ever really frightened her- that fire monster that had crawled from Helovia's heart. Vaguely, Kahlua wondered if the caves that had opened up beneath the Heart had once been that monster's underground dwelling, but she let the thought drift off as soon as it came. No point in dragging up an old nightmare when she had so many others to worry about each night. But regardless of that beast, none of the other mysteries that she had come across had ever been bad. She felt no fear in the face of this avian king.

His greeting, spoken through the sounds of a clicking beak, made the queen's ears flicker, but she smiled in return to his greeting and stepped closer, drawn towards the kindly fellow. Was he going to whisk her off the a strange, far away land like misty stag had, filled with a castle that reminded her so painfully of home and the family that had perished in the fire? It seemed not- he had a different task for her. She gasped aloud as he folded back a wing, revealing an egg nestled beneath. Would she accept? “I couldn't dream of saying no,” she replied, her soprano voice full of awe.

Slowly wandering closer, the queen reached out her velvety nose, hesitating to touch the thing, as though she was afraid this was a dream and that the touch would make this whole, wild scene disappear. But nothing disappeared as her nose brushed against the smooth shell and she nickered softly in pleasure and content. “One moment,” she requested, bounding off and quickly returning with an empty basket, the music box and scorpion left behind for the moment, lest they should take up too much room and the egg would not fit.

So she settled the basket at the owl's talons, and in that moment she was reminded of a different scene, a meeting that had taken place not so very long ago. Her smile faded as she recalled the words she had said to Kaj- that she feared love because love meant chains and cages, it meant lost freedom and loss of self. She did not try to stop the owl from settling the egg into the basket if he wanted to, but her voice filled with worry and she asked him softly, “How will I know how to love it?”

Love was easy, abstractly- to love a friend, to love a god, to love the life of others and loathe to take it. But to love truly and deeply, with the entirety of one's self, to give her life and heart and mind and soul to another... could she do it?

@[Random Event]