Where... am... I?

Violet eyes blinked into a blinding sun, a pounding ringing through the skull that held them.  A groan broke the gentle surge of waves lapping against his golden hide, surprising him until he realized that the noise had come from his own throat.  He raised his head, just barely, trying desperately to make sense of his blurred surroundings, only to let it fall to the ground with a grunt as pain shot through his body.  There were no familiar landmarks to guide his darting mind to a conclusion about his location, nothing to jog his memory as to why he was here.  There was nothing as far as he could see from his position, prone, half in the water, nothing except for blue sky above and blue sky below and clouds floating all around...

-Quilyan,- a voice whispered, and he swore that it came from inside his mind.  Again, it called to him, and he felt a flood of anxiety that was his-but-not-his, an influx of worry that had nothing to do with his overall confusion at the rather perplexing predicament in which he had found himself.

What...?

He glanced around, almost idly, and his gaze came to rest on a small creature.  He squinted, the shape of a monkey slowly forming before him.  A miniature monkey - how odd.  He had only ever seen the larger ones before, swinging in the treetops in the jungles far to the south of the castle.  "Well, hello," he greeted it, his voice rasping against his throat as it came out. "What in the world are you and what are you doing so far from the trees?"  It cocked its head at him, almost quizzically, as though miniature monkeys could have emotion just as equines could. "I don't suppose you know where I am, do you?"

-I haven't spent time in the trees since the last time we were in the Falls,- the little voice in his head said as the monkey scowled at him.  -And we are in Helovia.-

"You... you're not... you're not speaking to me, are you?"

-Of course I'm speaking to you, you idiot.  Now get up!-  And with that, the little monkey chittered angrily at him, scurrying towards his face.

The stallion bolted to his feet, surprised and alarmed, still feeling the odd worry from within that wasn't quite his.  Pain racked his body, but he was pleased to find that nothing appeared to be horribly disfigured or even remotely injured - he was simply sore, as though he had been battered by the sea.  He looked around, slightly woozy from the reflection of the sky in the sand, with pockets of water scattered around for what looked like miles.  The prince shook himself, finding that the more he moved, the more the pain seemed to fade to a dull ache.  Besides, there was sand in his mane.

-I'm Zarina, remember?  I've been with you since I was born.-

"I..."  He paused for a moment, shock and dread creeping from the shadows of his mind.  "I don't remember."

"more words."

Quilyan

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