Encouraged by her laugh, Lucius went down for another loop around her before soaring over to Mesec to perch in his normal spot on the folded wings against his bonded’s sides. He usually would have flown right back out of the rotunda again but it was safer now to stick close to Mesec. Everything seemed calm but the chance that something could trigger the transformation was too great.

Lately it had been only happening at night, when it was too hard to not let the uncertainties and doubts fill in the blanks of his spotty memories, filling them in with the worst that his imagination could conjure - which, even for the son of the god of dark magic - could get incredibly bleak. But here, in the light, and in this company, the night truly felt far away. If it wasn’t for the ever-present weight of his exhaustion and hunger, this could be just another easy, Frostfall day.

“He’s a zephyr - a night bird - and my companion.” Mesec’s smile grew warm as he answered her question about Lucius and it earned him an affectionate tug on his mane from the zephyr as he further settled in.

Thankfully, Mesec had been busy looking at the structure around them and did not notice how her gaze lingered on him, the signs of the stress he forced upon his body were becoming noticeable to others now. Fortunately, his folded wings hid the ripples of ribs under the skin and the angular shape of his hips as the fat and flesh receded. But even as they were admiring the structure together, the sky-mare stumbled into an apology as she wondered whether this was his home. Silver eyes snapped back to her - surprised to see her start to back away - and he was quick to take a step forward and speak reassurances. “Oh no, this isn’t mine - I’m just visiting, the same as you. This place belongs to all of Helovia. It has building pieces from all four of the herds.”Although he knew he was dangerous, each moment spent in her company a risk, Mesec craved the company of someone else - craved the distraction that it brought to him, and did not want to see her leave.

He gestured to each feature in turn as he spoke of it, a warm smile still in place as he tried to encourage her back into the easy conversation. “Glass from the Edge, stone from the Falls, metal from the Throat, fabric from the Basin.” Every single one of them a place that he felt a tie to in some shape. “I don’t know all the history behind it but it must have been built in a time when the herds were united as one… which doesn’t happen very often.”