My attention was stuck on Ashamin, too far in concern to notice Eden appear. The ivory mare coming up to my side still didn’t sway my attention to her, until she spoke. Turning my head to face her, I offered her a gentle smile and a dip of my crown. “Hello again, Eden. I hope you’ve been enjoying your home.” My voice was gentle but held a hint of the recollection of how she was craving a home that I did my best to provide for her. Even though my home and world were cracking at the seams, I hoped that she had found everything she had wanted with this land.

Then Ode appeared. He was beaten, worn, tired, exhausted. I didn’t know much of this creature, but I did know that he was playful and kind. Seeing him in this much pain actually hurt me seeing him like that. I moved from Eden’s side over to the stag, motioning for the darkened beast to join our forming circle, yet before I could do anything for him, I noticed a sight I had wished not to see in a lifetime; especially in my home.

Caleb appeared, approaching the Haruspex circle and approaching Eden, entirely ignoring me. My concerned eyes turned more into confusion and frustration that he dared to come here. Who did he think he was? Was he part of our herd now? How did he manage to get by Deimos? How could the Lord of this unicorn only herd let this deceiver through? I huffed a sigh, peeling my gaze from the sight of him, still appalled that he could even be here and be okay after everything. I didn’t understand it.

Then Tiamat appeared, a unique creature that I hadn’t the pleasure to meet yet. She was quick to get to Ode and assist and I offered her a gentle smile of thanks before making my way back toward the fire, placing myself as far away from Caleb as possible; offering a small shy smile to Eden that basically summed up my feelings. ‘Sorry, I’d love to stay next to you but that winged fucker is plaguing that side of the fire.’

As Ashamin began to move to greet people, I returned the touch of the cheek with a smile. “It’s good to see you too, my friend. I hope we can catch up soon.” Perhaps I could speak with him about the issue I was having between Caleb and Tembovu? Yeah, that’d be a good idea. Get a second opinion and hope it helps. I sighed slightly to myself watching the monochrome stag greet each and every one. His worry for Ode was there as well, when we were all equally just as worried about Ashamin.

When he reached the fire once more and began to speak of the things that happened in Frostfall, I couldn’t agree more. Things were strange here in Helovia, and things had been changing and adjusting rapidly. Stepping forward, I decided to speak first to try and get things rolling. Clearing my throat gently, I completely ignored Caleb as I glanced around the grouping. “Change is occurring, though personally I cannot tell if it’s a good change yet. So to start off on a good note, I’d like to mention the Winter Wonderland events hosted by Hidden Falls. I didn’t get a chance to participate, but I did hear many good things about it. There were a variety of events everyone could take part in. This winter was quite a brutal one and seemed to last forever with blizzards and such. I think it was nice to have something like that to keep one’s mind off things.” My voice was calm but held a hint of frustration toward the end as my eyes passed over Caleb once more. I wasn’t sure what else to add, but I had hoped that another would speak up about the events or add something else. Suddenly under everyone’s eyes I felt quite small.




Rexanna