we heal with love

They had been wandering, eager to get out of the Edge - eager to see if distance would drain away the anger she had been feeling in that herd lately. And it did. Granted, for the first day she had been travelling it had only gotten worse - obsessing over each and every word that had been yelled and spoken. It felt like she was fracturing, little pieces of herself falling away until the mare that was standing in her place was someone that she didn’t even recognize.

Things were easier the next day - easier to breathe, easier to think.

Frostfall still had a firm grip on Helovia but she was starting to notice the chances, the first flush of buds on the oaks of the Thistle Meadow - the slight scent of life mingling with the cold scent of the snow.

She had been inspecting some of these buds on a low lying branch, looking for signs of just how far away Birdsong was, when movement near one of the other trees caught her attention.

Although there was a brief flicker of annoyance at recognizing one of her herd mates (were they everywhere?) it was very brief. She chided herself, and Hemlock joined in the guilt-trip, for assuming that everyone from the herd was going to inspire her to grow as bitter and hateful as Tembovu did. She had once been friendly and welcoming, had once made it a point to know all of her herd mates - not just meet them once but actually know them. Learn who they were and befriend them. She didn’t even know this stallion’s name, she had no reason to shy away from him.

The name had been heard at some point, possibly at the meeting? It was aggravating, how deeply she had receded into her shell. How much she had missed in the meantime.

With Hemlock taking off, leaving behind kindly meant (if harshly put) encouragement, Alysanne watched as the antlered stallion reached up to knock something small and gold off of a branch. Filled with curiosity, and with a smile sparking in her green eyes, she approached slowly - stopping nearby with her wings folded at her sides. “I didn’t know the trees here grew jewellery.” There’s just a small, quick laughter - testing out her first joke in… well, a long time. Her gaze shifted from the gold bracelet to the green eyes of this herd-mate stranger. “You’re from the Edge, right? I’m Alysanne, one of the healers there.”

alysanne & hemlock