It was mayhem, chaos, madness. Pandemonium. Not that the babe actually had any words to describe to tumult with. It was just that whenever she tried to get from one point to another to collect or deposit crystals her path was obscured, and it was getting harder and harder to reach her destinations.

She was scared. It was terrible to see everyone around her get so hurt, and it was confusing to not know why everyone was so angry. Had the big bear said something mean? Had the sparky time man been the one who did bad things? She didn't know, Erthë couldn't tell, everyone was screaming and shouting and saying horrible things to one another and there was blood spilling onto the ground. Blue, red, blue and more red until the waters in the basin below the fall really was mostly made of blood.

But somehow, for some reason, she wasn't hurt. Sure, her foot hurt from stepping in the glowing drool but that was all her own fault since she hadn't been careful, and she had been buffeted around a bit and her body ached from countless bruises but she wasn't actually hurt. Not like the sun-colored stallion whose leg was pierced from the inside by something white and blood-stained and sharp, or the white black-dotted man who screamed as fire licked his skin, or the poor, poor Bear that was screaming and looking confused and saying horrible things that made her chest ache with a guilty feeling she didn't understand.

Was it really good of her to help Sparky collect the gems? He was using them to hurt the bear even more; she had seen him use the glittering crystals from her pile and shoot them at the winter god, so alone and sad and wasn't it actually kinda pretty if you forgot about the drooling and the horrible voice?

Erthë stared around, desperately looking or something, anything that might tell her what to do. One of the dragons that had come to guard her before, the pretty red one, shot off to defend the big girl that had screamed angrily that it was wrong as she arrived, and one of the mares that had jumped in and tried to make her leave was rushing off too - she looked hurt and a bit wet after all the water had come falling from the sky. Another had been injured too; splashing blood etched into the pretty tiger-striped coat of a mare with wings on her head. It looked so painful, the filly ached with gratitude and pain and reached down towards the little tiny fox that ran by her side, wanting to bury her nose in the fluffy fur in gratitude. Only for a second, a fraction of a heartbeat, to steady herself and regain the courage to act.

It seemed as though she had been standing frozen on the spot for a million years, but it probably wasn't more than a few seconds before she staggered onwards again. Fatigue was setting in now, a dizzying weakness that stemmed from hunger, tiredness and shock. Longing for her mother's warm embrace to save her from everything haunted the fawn as she ducked in beneath a white-faced boy's dynamic lunge and picked up a long, sharp shard of crystal. She had thought to bring it back to the pile with the rest, but a spark of defiance suddenly flared within her.

No. She would not do as the god had told her. There were crystals lying about everywhere, he could pick them up from the ground himself if he really needed them that badly! Erthë could fight too, just like everyone else! She would protect others just like they had protected her, so that she wouldn't ever feel that awful lurch of guilt and shame and debt again when they bled for her sake.

With all the deadly fury of a newborn kitten Erthë threw the shard in her mouth towards the head of the bear. Without looking to see whether it had actually hit or just fallen harmlessly towards the ground she used the same nimbleness as before to dart around fighters and the bear to find another gem to throw.

And she spotted the battered sword lying on the ground, dragged and pulled by a.. well... she couldn't really tell what it was but it seemed way too tiny to carry that big thing. Erthë hurried over to help and after attempting to wrap her flexible tail around the hilt she smiled through her tears at the tiny creature and made to help it bring it back to its owner, the stocky monochrome girl that lay off a ways on the ground, looking angry and hurt as she shot lightning at the bear.

She was still scared, still confused and overwhelmed and a bit disgusted at all the yucky things that clung to her hooves and coat, but she felt a bit better now. Helping someone, wasn't that great?