Days passed, as days will, so very slowly in the moment’s reckoning; Megaera could count the hours by the times she wondered when each day would end. The strange thing to her was that as long as each day seemed, she might look back and find that ten had passed in the blink of an eye. Days upon days and each seemed so much the same. Patrol and training and prayer, each thing fine in its own right but she was starting to itch from the monotony of it. Frostfall was long and slow and hateful but nearly over and birdsong eagerly awaited.

Something a little different for today, she thought, and she knew just the thing. It had begun to worry Megaera just how little she knew her herd. She loved them, worked to protect them, but too often she would be making her rounds a see a face she didn't know. Megaera the soldier might not have minded too much if she knew only her fellow fighters with any intimacy, but the Megaera the Sunspear was turning out to be a bit different. She had lived once under the rule of a tyrant, who cared more for his subjects obedience than their wellbeing and she had no wish to be that kind of Sultana. If Gaucho and the Sun God would place their trust in her she would be the best she was capable of, nothing else would satisfy her.

She had completed her sweep of the Throat in double-time today, and though that left her half spent and likely to be sore in the morning, she would take the extra time to socialize. In the past months any spare moment she had had been spent chasing down her wily daughter, but Mordecai would have to share her with the rest of the herd today. Megaera set out from the oasis at an easy pace, having left Gwaihir to his hunting around the lake.

It wasn’t long until she found Cera, and as she’d spied him working from the air during her rounds, it did not surprise her to find him stretched out in the sand. She moved forward coming to stand next to the stallion and peering down with a grin. “You’ve done a fine job forger, but that’s no reason to get lazy!” It was a joke well meant, and came out with a soft laugh, but almost before it was finished the regret came. He looked terrible. Not just a full days hard work but her friend looked like he had been laboring for weeks without rest. Concern crossed her face and furrowed Meg’s brow before she spoke again. “Cera, are you alright?” If she’d known better she might not have asked.