no dreams within her heart,
but dreams of love

Almost dreamily, the ocean mare wanders from her mountain home. Cloven hooves dance gently over the frozen ground, allowing the movement of the earth to guide her where it will, marveling at the beauty of winter as the miles drift away. With the earth she sways, weaving through the dark tree trunks, their snow-laden branches draping dappled shadows across her back.

Twirling, dancing, and billowing through the trees, comes a voice—a song of laughter and delight, lilting playfully between frosted branches. The blue mare’s heart swells with the sound, a toothless smile softening her lips as she pushes forward into a trot, allowing the flow of the earth and the melody of the song to guide her. There is no inhibition or caution in her gate; ever joyful, ever friendly, and ever trusting, she doesn’t consider what dangers might lurk behind such beauty (because, surely, something so lovely can’t be anything but glorious).

With cloven hooves stepping around the trees, she sees a building; it is obviously very old, but magnificent enough to take her breath away. Tiamat has never seen anything like this structure before. While the concept of architecture is not entirely foreign to her, she is not familiar with the phenomenon (having spent nearly her whole life within the snowy reaches of her beloved valley)—and as she takes it in, she cannot doubt that this place, this pavilion, has come from anything but some divine creation.

Drawing closer, Tiamat’s eyes are drawn from the carved stone by movement, and as if she isn’t already overjoyed, her heart leaps from her chest in delight. “Lena!” She cries happily, bounding forward in great leaps to close the distance between them, her hair billowing in a mass of tinkling shells. Reaching the brown mare, Tiamat presses close to her without hesitation, cradling her in a warm embrace of friendship.

“Lena, it’s been too long, I have missed you!” She pulls the Time Mender closer before stepping back, all smiles and bright eyes. It has been before winter had come that Tiamat had last seen her dear friend, and even then, they hadn’t been able to catch up with one another. The length of her lion tail arcs happily, white eyes flickering to acknowledge Imogen with a hello, before focusing again on Lena. “How have you been, my friend?”

“Speech.”