Resplendence

one day i'll be stronger than my own doubt

Resplendence was tired. Sleep, while it had started to come to her in gentle waves she still hadn't been getting a lot of it. Rue had returned, and (now overly paranoid) she'd asked another herd member to keep an eye on her child while she attempted to recuperate. Valiance, forever keeping watch, was in the skies - circling around like a vulture to warn Resplendence if anyone came near.

It was the sign of the polar bear which startled Valiance, for a couple of reasons. First, polar bears did not naturally live where there was not snow. Secondly, it was large enough to easily take down Resplendence, especially in her exhausted state. Thirdly, if it didn't naturally survive in these lands then it had to be accompanied by someone else. Valiance instantly swooped back down, tearing through the open flap of the canopy and landing just in front of Resplendence. "Bear; not natural. Didn't see companion," he warned Resplendence - tugging at her hair to get her groggy mess onto her feet. "A bear?" she mumbled, blinking awkwardly before stumbling to her feet. "Yes. A bear, Ressy. A bear." Valiance insisted, leaping back to the sky and pulling away the flap to allow Resplendence an easy exit from her 'nest'.

Then, the awkward term of endearment flitted into the sky, croaking and begging to be heard. Her audit swivels toward it as Valiance glides toward Lakota as well. He flashed an image of the mare to Resplendence, far clearer from his closer position compared to her own vision. She flicked her tail, maroon dust spraying across the lands as she rolled her shoulders. "It's Lakota… at least I believe that's her name…" she told Valiance, eyes lingering back toward the tent and her hidden herb box. Yes, this mare wasn't completely horrid. She had saved her herbs from that beast when Resplendence hadn't been strong enough to do it herself. Even if she had invaded the Foothills, gave her nightmares, she had yet to show the hatred, the venom and malice toward Resplendence in their latest encounters.

Valiance, still uncertain with this pairing, continued to circle the sky like a vulture. Yet, he lacked the warning flare he usually sent off because Resplendence was insisting that this mare would do little (at least in the state she was hobbling toward her in) to harm the Earth Medic. Quietly, she moved forward - attempting to meet the mare half way, eyes locking in on the swollen barrel and the sway of her limbs as the blue roan moved. "If it's not the lioness…" Resplendence says, no hatred in her voice - though it didn't carry the same joy of her closest friends. Her lips curve in a delicate smile before she offers to bump maws with the mother before her. "Lakota? I know we never formally introduced ourselves - but I garnered your name from Apollo…" she explains, quietly and uncertainly - not wanting to offend the mare before her. Aye, she knew the blue roan had some interesting magic to say the least. "What brings you here?" she finally asks, twisting ever so slightly to glance back at her tent, eyes flickering back toward Lakota's. "Come back toward my canopy. Rest for a spell if you need to," she offers, even against Valiance's wishes. Aye, he had seen her nightmares, the ones that still haunted her - from Rowan's death, to the invasion… he knew them. He knew them and he wasn't okay with the nightmares existing in real life.