Megaera

Megaera was used to listening over the winds of an open desert, could pick out a chattering mouse in the midst of a sandstorm, but this landscaped was so very unfamiliar to her. The air was maddeningly still, and the humidity made it thick and uncomfortable to breath. Meg would take the dry, baking heat of Dragon’s Throat over this any day. Here, sounds seemed to all but disappear in the white-noise created by the rush of falling water and the dominance of trees and water would never let her take advantage of her flat-out speed or nimble flight. Good thing I’m not here to fight, I suppose… she thought, but hoped the terrain of the Basin wouldn’t have her feeling so penned-in when she went north.

As it was, Meg didn’t hear the approach of the grey mare until her startled “Oh!” alerted her to it. Already tensed from the prevailing sense of immediacy Gaucho’s mission had imbued her with, the short wait for any kind of response had the bay jerking her head around, ears pricked up and leading the way. Her body spun to follow, one wing tucked in to curve around and the other extended to balance the quick motion. “Oh!” She responded, rather dumbly, as the surprise of running into an old acquaintance, so very unexpectedly, temporarily shoved her own purpose here from her mind.

She stood for a moment, face a mask of shock and one wing still sticking out awkwardly. The kind mare that had been one of the first to greet her in Helovia had not been who Meg had expected to see after so long. Since her own return from searching for a missing Gaucho, the little Warrior had heard that Africa had had a brief stint as Sultana but had since left the Throat. Birdsong being what it had, Meg had not had the time to discover where she’d gone. Yet suddenly here she was, the dark zephyr perched open her back.

“Africa!” Meg’s face finally broke into a quick smile of recognition but Africa’s quick question brought her sober purpose back to mind. The soldier straitened, wings both folding close to her frame and a serious sharpness returning to her gaze as her surprise faded. “I am glad to see you well and safe, but I am afraid I am not here on pleasant business.” Megaera hesitated then, from her understanding Africa knew the missing Sultana far better and the new she bore would be harder to hear than it was to tell. Still, Meg thought, I’ve got a mission, and I can’t shirk duty to spare feelings.

“Gaucho has sent me to see all the herds. Sohalia has been missing a season, we thought she’d been away on business for the Academy, but one of her sons returned without her. The Sultan though he had been with his mother but the boy hasn’t seen her since Frostfall.” The words brought full back her sense of purpose, and Meg’s voice and expression were un-characteristically grim. “I am come to see if any in the Falls has had any sign of where she might have gone, and I am afraid I cannot linger long. Do you know where I might find the Czar or Czarina? They might know best whom to ask.”

a soldier does not have time to wait
a soldier cannot hesitate