Själ

When the princess had left Helovia, she hadn't had the slightest intention of coming back. Why should she, when all that she had in the world had been vanquished there? Her mother was dead, her father was still unknown, and her half-sister had made her opinion of their mother's second daughter quite clear. And yet, the further she roamed from the wooded borders of the land, the more she found herself wishing that she could have found peace there. The girl was many things, but a wanderer was not one of them; she may not have been social in the least, but she still wanted a home. The Aurora Basin, whatever legacy her mother had left there, had not filled the void in the filly's heart... but what would? The only creature who had ever cared for her was dead.

A disgruntled sound interrupted the girl's musings. Okay, I'm sorry. I know you care, Ansgar. The griffin huffed loudly, swooping from the air above the princess to land in front of her. She had not grown to be a particularly large griffin, only the size of a small cat; but she was fierce nonetheless. Long, slitted pupils glared into the brush from within golden irises, a bright hue that matched the color of her bonded's. Within moments, the creature was slinking away, no doubt off to hunt. Själ was glad that she had finally learned to hunt for herself. The girl had no qualms about killing, but she had gotten a bit tired of trying to chase down every stray rabbit that the griffin pointed out.

She had come across the border of Helovia several hours prior and began to work her way north. She had no real intentions of reaching the Aurora Basin, but it was the only part of Helovia that she even vaguely knew. The sky above her began to darken and she frowned - she hadn't thought that it was late enough for that yet. Still, she pressed on, and when she heard the sound of running water, she decided that water might signify a good place to stop for the time being.

-Wings.- The word came through the bond, accompanied by an image of a young pegasus filly, covered in varying shades of brown and black. Ansgar had come across what appeared to be to the pegasus what the griffin was to the unicorn; immediately on alert, Ansgar had leaped from the bushes, tail lashing as she held herself low to the ground, as though ready to attack. Or perhaps she meant to play. The princess doubted that Ansgar even knew yet. With a sigh, she trotted her way around the bushes and went to find her companion and their newfound company.

"You're quite young to be alone, aren't you?" she asked by way of greeting as she stepped out from the cover of bloodied foliage. She hadn't thought much of the color, given the season, but upon seeing the ruby-red waters of the waterfall, she began to truly look at her surroundings. There was something both beautiful and eerie about the darkened reds that tinted everything around her; she had definitely not come across this place before. She turned her attention back to the filly before her - what kind of place was this for a young girl to be alone in?

She knew what it was to be alone. She knew what it was to be abandoned. She wouldn't wish it upon anyone else.
"Speech."