Alysanne

Elsa showed good judgement, remaining level-headed when Alysanne joined the group. Though she had felt compelled to join in the greeting, Alysanne was glad that there was another here - she was not sure she could be objective when it came to Aurelia. It wasn’t so much the fact that the young mare had challenged for the crown - though that did bother her. Challenges for positions were indeed something that happened but Alysanne had little experience with such things. Who was king or queen did not matter to her so long as they did well by their herd. What did matter was what she saw: a brash, young mare who had only just joined the herd and thought that she could do better than the queen that had been hand-picked by the Moon Goddess. What mattered to her was the memories of that fight, of sweet Kahlua being forced into conflict and the rest of them being unable to help - of the anger she had seen in Kaj that day as she and others tried to deter him from barrelling into the fight and causing more harm. And the aftermath, the time that it had taken to coax Kahlua out of her depression afterward.

Alysanne’s maternal instinct did not end with her children, it touched her friends and she did not doubt that it would blind her in some cases. She only knew anger at such times, a new and fresh feeling for her, and was prepared to do whatever it took to protect them.

She was no queen, had no desire to be queen, but she felt protective of the herd too. When had she taken it upon herself to adopt everyone she met and wrap them in her wings to shield them from the world? It was an exhausting task but one that the painted mare would nonetheless undertake.

Torleik was not exempt from that - she remembered well the day that Brisa’s twins had been born and the look on his face when he found out that neither of them were his. Even as he joined them now he wondered how he was doing, and made a note to check up with her king when the time allowed it.

For now, though, Aurelia had questions to answer and after greeting Torleik with a nod she turned back to the young mare.

She explained everything to both Elsa and Torleik, relaying the basic information of what had transpired in Aurelia’s previous stay within the Edge. Through the red-hot protectiveness burning in Alysanne she felt sorry for the mare, especially when the subject of foals was brought up. Would Alysanne have the heart to urge the Edge to turn away a family? Of course not. She feared trusting Aurelia again, feared what might happen if all of these heartfelt truths and pleads amounted to nothing.

A soft sigh escaped the pegasus, feeling as conflicted as ever. “If you truly mean to enter this herd with peace, Aurelia, I’ll not stand in the way of you being accepted if that’s the decision.” She would leave the ultimate decision up to either of the two standing with her. As a healer, she did not think it was up to her to make the decisions that could affect the safety of those living in the Edge.

She just wanted to make her side known. “I don’t trust you. But that’s something that can be changed if you show through your actions that you’ll not harm anyone in this herd again.” Alysanne doubted that her trust carried much weight, she didn’t even know whether her opinion on the matter would have weight with those in her own herd. They were both basically strangers to her - the Edge needed to work on becoming a family again. Maybe there was even a place for Aurelia in this new family.


@[Elsa]