"HI!" I blink down in confusion at the boy who so suddenly placed himself before me. I cannot fathom how one so small can be so unexpectedly loud. "My..name's..Murtagh.... CanIhelpyouwithsomething?" Oh youth, to be so trusting of strangers. He had no hesitation in approaching me and offering his aid. Yet with his age the colt is still living at the mercy to much of what is around him. I eye him in concern as he pants. The sound of his ragged breathing takes me back whenever my own breath had gotten short even from the slightest physical exertion.

My eyes close tight stealing away my sight in the way that I wish I could so easily rob myself of hearing; sight is not the sense I wish to be without right now. Murtagh's breathing brings too many memories forward to jab into me like the the insistent gnawing of a wolf's teeth. I almost wonder if the boy was sent by the God of the Sun to remind me of what he saved me from. A reminder of what he could return me to if I do not follow his command. If Murtagh is a messenger to the god it would explain the lack of a mother nearby.

Eyes still closed I shake my head trying to free myself from my own nonsense. The boy is no more than a young thing that has ran a little harder than his lungs were prepared for. Completely normal. I ease my eyes open slowly. First one then the other. I ease back into reality. I ease back into the present.

"No. I do not require any help. But where is your mother?" I eye the colt warily. The last thing that I need is for a protective mother to launch at me for being too close to her young one. I scan the Threshold for the movement of another. I am eager to search his mother out and alert her of Murtagh's whereabouts. A sigh passes from my lips whenever no one is spotted even after several moments pass. "What is it that you have?" I try to soften myself to him. It is not his fault that I am so tense. I lean in closer to Murtagh and his strange device that, even as his movement jostles it about, insists on pointing to me.

I stiffen once more as I hear the hurried approach of someone else. Their movement is not carried by the quiet hoof falls of a casual walk by. Whoever it is, is either Murtagh's mother, father, or it is someone who is no good. I step around Murtagh just in case it is trouble that comes. My ears pin sharply against my skull and my neck arches smoothly. I imagine myself to look like a formable foe and I cannot help allowing a self satisfied smirk to grow.

Both my expression and stance change whenever I set eyes on the who it is that approaches. The similarities are there! Surely she is Murtagh's mother. I throw my ears forward presenting a friendlier expression and I drop my neck lower. I make myself as small as possible.

"It is okay. He is --" I step from in front of the young unicorn allowing her to see that he is safe. "Aurelia!" Once more confusion is thrust upon me. I pull myself back to my normal stature with a furrowed brow. I had been about to tell her that her son was here and that I was certainly no threat towards him but it was not Murtagh's name that she called. "Here." my sentence had too much momentum to be stopped and the 'here' falls rather flat.

The name she calls stirs some strange ghosts of memories long dead within me and her strong emotions pile upon the ghosts morphing into a monster that makes me want to do nothing more than flee. Out of instinct my feathers ruffle and my wings strike against the air twice; it is just enough to stir up my magic that gives birth to flame beneath my feathers. I wince as I snap my wings shut quelling the flames. My sides burn from the magic being activated twice in such a brief time.

"Ah--Hello." I fidget as she struggles with our shared awkwardness of the moment. "Who is it?" It is a small voice beside her that puts the first crack in the ice.

"I know not who Aurelia is." I wonder if Aurelia is Murtagh's mother but that does not explain why the dark mare's face fell so sharply. "But I am Faeanne." I allow Murtagh to handle his own introduction if she does not already know him. I am puzzled by this situation and I do not care to speak anymore than what is required. I do not want to get too heavily involved either. I do my best to ignore the broken expression the mare now carries. For the briefest of moments her face had contained such joy that my own lips had itched with the desire to share her expression now, in such a split moment, that has changed. It makes my heart ache to see how quickly feelings can change.

"Salutations!" A stallion joins our group and am already lost as to how to respond to those that have already gathered around me. Young blood flows in my veins and it yearns for the company of stallions but I still want nothing more than to be left with my own space. The closer my hormones call for me to be with stallions the more I distance myself from them. It does not help that this one is so intriguing. My golden eyes follow the swaying of the lantern attached to his antler. "My lady, how do you do?"

"I am fine. How are you?" I return his question not only to him, but to all here. I direct my eyes to each in turn in an attempt to hide the turmoil that surely shows in my eyes. My attempt is likely in vain.

My pupils of ivory trace the marking that so closely resembles a tree. If my coat makes me one of the stars then he is one of the Earth. I am the sky. He is the ground. There is so much space between the ground and sky; perhaps they prefer it that way? Or maybe the sky never gave the ground a chance. "I am Tilney of the World's Edge, which of you crosses the threshold this day?"

"I would be your target for recruitment." I smile tightly at the stallion. I am out of my element whenever dealing with strangers but it is not because I want to. With time I would open to another. I just need someone to give me time. "Once I was a member of the Edge. Evangeline acted as my adoptive mother." My smile loses its tightness and grows soft at the thought of the mare. "Is she still among your ranks?"

I wonder if I miss The Edge? This could be my opportunity to follow another to the herd and to rejoin those I had known there. I know that I feel fond memories of the place but I do not know if returning is what I wish to do. I miss the Edge in the same way that a weaned foal misses the warmth of their mother's milk. Would returning to the Edge flow warmth throughout my body or would it taste bitter to me now that time has passed? Neither my adoptive mother nor the herd stilled their lives in my absence.

I wonder where the others hail from. I turn from the stallion with the lantern to Murtagh with his strange device and the mare with the colt who has attached himself so closely to her side. My eyes linger long on the other mare. I yearn to comfort her but I feel as though my life has me in no position to console another. Wouldn't someone who has life figured out be more capable?

Leave it to the young to see through adults so easily. Murtagh had kicked the pebble. I need help. But I have to thaw myself more easily to others if I am to ever receive it.

NOTES: 1,387 words (Counting dialogue of other characters). Wow. Well hello there muse. I love this thread! All of your posts were so wonderful. I am so excited for these character interactions. I am sorry if most of this reply is rambling. I couldn't stop myself. Blame Fae.

I also tried to do an equine equivalent of the phrase "___ hit the nail on the head" with the phrase "___ kicked the pebble."

Please ignore any grammar fails or anything that doesn't make any sense. I read through a few times but I have looked at this for so long that I don't even know anymore.

@Murtagh @Destry @Tilney