Morning was something that slid over Loorien unnoticed. Mornings usually started with hot streaks of molten orange and pink but on this day the sky was unresponsive. It was simply scratched dark and delirious by slate pencils or by some sort of magic that sucked the color from everything. The sky did lighten, but with such subtlety that the world was only more blue. His electric eyes drank in the cool morning and his brain interpreted the day to be extra. He'd wished for a day of forgiveness long ago, and it seemed that this day was for him. He knew what he would do, and it seemed instinct to him.

Out in the veiling downpour his bright eyes caught a flicker of red, red like crimson. There was a black hole in the night where he saw the flicker and one name raced through his head. "Paladin," his dark legs moved closer and the red flash ran across his eyes again. "my brother!" He remembered the first days of Anarore and how they pulled such emotion out of the world for redemption and how the Valiant was there to create it all. 'And how I betrayed him...' He thought surely Paladin could forgive him for running off to be with the one he loved most for even he had a love and a multitude of children to care for.

But as Validino neared briskly, his eyes did not see the the tall, muscular hide of Paladin. He saw a child, balled up in the night's rain, thick pelt absorbing all of the water it could. This child was shocked to the bone, dull and nearly malnourished. His head craned and his legs stopped. This child smelt of loneliness and rain. She was young - three months at the most and without a guardian. Her wings looked to case her body from the chilly morning and the rain just ate through the warmth of her coat. A gasp formed in the steed's throat. "What are you doing out here all alone, child?" He claimed her now as a child of his own. His uselessly neared her with his long neck, an attempt to shield off some of the frigid downpour. She was already soaked. Validino knew with his all that if his children were out at this hour he'd be most grateful for someone to find them. "Where are your parents? Do they know you're out?" He let himself lecture. "You could be killed so easily all alone!" He sounded like Evangeline.