Beneath a lonely tree copse on the vast plane, the queen stood solemnly. Nestled between her hooves was a basket, several purple or orange feathers lining the bottom that were slightly damp with rain that had ricocheted off the grass just beyond her shelter. Mecha scorpion clicked and whirred between her ears, seemingly upset with the wind that was jostling her mane about. The machine was having difficulty finding a steady place to maintain its position and, though it was only a robot without feeling, Kahlua had anthropomorphized the thing and justified its actions as annoyance at the wind.

For her own part, she did not mind the chaos of the brewing weather. It felt fitting for her wild heart and the struggles she was attempting to sort through. Love for Kaj... but would love ever be more than just a chain? Love for this egg... but could she ever welcome another into her life so completely? She had no secrets from the world, if only one would ask for her opinion, and yet she was determined to be frightened of something that was supposed to be so freeing and beautiful. So here she stood in the wild winds as rains began to pour, the clouds threatening more violence to come, trying to find answers to questions that would change her mind. But did she really want to change?

A lightning crack made the queen jump, blue eyes looking nervously outwards. She had gotten stuck here beneath the tree's boughs. She did not wish to venture into the maelstrom for fear of her basket catching the wind and blowing clean away but it did not feel safe here beneath the bending branches and trembling leaves. Was there evil in this tree? No, there was no evil in nature. Only the evil that horses put there to ruin the sanctity of what had been created by the gods of the earth. If there was something to fear in this tree, it was only her own heart.

Looking up from the silver egg that shimmered so frightfully beneath her, the queen spied between the trunks of several trees and found a familiar beast daring to try and tame the storm. His golden frame was illuminated by the snap of another lightning bolt and she felt a lightness of sorts in her heart. Still, there was no smile on her face as she looked out to him. Troubles plagued her, more troubles than she had known when he had first approached her, but it was funny how serendipitous life was sometimes.

“Strange, how I didn't know you were the one I needed until you appeared,” she cooed before picking up her basket and moving around several trunks to be on the same side of the clearing as him. Gently, she replaced it on the ground, looking longingly down to its contents. For most that look would have been desire for the hatch of the creature yet growing in it's calcium coating. For Kahlua, it was only a desire to hear the tune that the little music box played when its button was pressed. Unfortunately, the gale that surrounded them would have quickly drowned out the song. It didn't really matter, she knew the sounds by heart already, but to hear them aloud sometimes gave her comfort.

When she looked upon him, she hardly noticed the pained look that might have rested on his own face, so lost in her own sorrows as she was. Without asking, for she trusted this beast immensely already, she dove into her story, or at least a portion of it, her voice just loud enough to be heard over the storm but lackluster in all other qualities. “My past has taught me that love, real love, is nothing but chains and cages.” Not the love between families... that sort of love came with its own set of rules and hardships. The love between two that might cuddle together in the night, hunker down in this storm, press together- love between two whose hearts beat as one.

Sighing, shaking her head, she shifted the direction of her story just slightly, blue eyes looking towards him with pained curiosity, hoping to see understanding there on his face, not the pained look of horror that had found its way onto Kaj's. “Do you know what I desire more than anything? More than friends or family or magic or fame or power... more than life?” She cocked her head, never considering that these deep philosophical musings might be beyond what he wanted to hear or discuss in the moment. “Freedom,” she sighed softly, looking away from him to the darkened sky.

“If you chain me, you may as well kill me... my crown nearly has.” There- she had admitted it. To a living soul, she had said that the queendom was not all she had expected it to be. She had grown stronger and better for her commitment to the herd, to her Moon Goddess, but that did not mean she was always happy. She was willing to suffer for the betterment of the herd, because that was what had been asked of her... Oh, see what love had done to the fool of a queen? “Can I love him and still love myself?” she finished, lowering her nose to press against her basket as the scorpion whirred its distaste for some matter or another. Could she? Or would love always mean chains, and would chains always mean death? She hoped he had some council for her, for certainly she had none for herself. Did it matter if the golden thought she meant the egg or some living soul? She doubted it would change his answer.