Their welcoming committee is surprisingly large, much to the girl's silent chagrin. It begins with the descent of a sobbing child, and the girl steps back, unconsciously pressing herself closer to her comforting cousin as dark eyes stare, bewildered, at the youth who has fallen unceremoniously from the sky. Part of her mind wonders hastily whose child it is; where is the mother of this boy, to allow her son such reckless freedom, let him go throwing himself over the border at such a fragile age? He could have fallen into the sea! Fire Dancer steps hastily forward, the weight of her sorrow momentarily forgotten in the face of an innocent, needing to be saved.
Fortunately Amani appears, a familiar figure, an apostle, and the copper child takes a careful step back. Amani is kind, and the former Oracle is content to let this smaller girl seize up the situation, to leave the strange youth in the care of someone clearly better suited than she ever could be. "Amani," she mumurs a quiet reply, casting a glance at her cousin before returning to the bay. "This child needs to be escorted home, I think..." she tapers off, voice fading, willing herself to separate away from a situation which is clearly being cared for. There is no good her interference can offer. She has come to give her authority up, not assert it further.
She begins to fidget, anxious, uncomfortable, and considers simply leaving the key and making her exit stage left, when a familiar shadow and even more familiar magic descends upon the ground. Fire Dancer sighs and steps back further, making space for Ampere's landing, while the kitsune at her hooves quietly bristles. There is history between the girl and the older mare, but Tandavi looks upon Ampere with some relief; somehow she feels a kinship to the troubled blue mare.
Perhaps, she thinks, it is because she knows so many of Ampere's secrets, has seen Ampere sink just as heavy as the copper child feels- though the blue mare always seems to get back up again, while the girl merely descends.
The Chancellor's offer hits her like a slap, and she starts, blinking, a sudden surge of emotion rising to her lips. Yes, she wants to say, take me back- but the words choke and are silent, and the girl only shakes her head, black eyes trained on the electric mare as she struggles for the appropriate words to say. "No," the girl who was a Fire Dancer murmurs at last. "I came to return mine." Narrow shoulders shrug and the girl's head drops, letting the charm fall over her ears and into the sand, where it glistens like an accusation, the physical embodiment of all her failure.
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