I chewed on the inside of my cheek until the metallic taste of blood slid across the back of my tongue as I tried to stop from giggling as the gold and white lunged to his feet, startled by my appearance and the disturbance of his nap. Electric blues shifted amusingly across his frame, taking in the pale green that lit up his white hairs like a neon light, and the bits of flowers and grass that clung to his sleep tangled tresses. A smile flittered across my ink stained features as I tried to catch his emerald gaze, wondering if he would recognize me once the initial shock of being woken up had faded.

It had been so long since I had seen the gold and white that I was nearly surprised by the stallion-like muscles that rippled beneath his two toned pelt as he lifted himself from the ground, where was the lanky colt that I had known so well as a child? Back then he had been nearly a brother, but now he was simply a memory, a friend. Pale wings shifted as I leaned back against a cocked hoof and tucked my feathered appendages in close to my body in feeble efforts to hide the womanly form that I had been cursed blessed with in the time since we had last actually spent time together. Cera had grown much, and grown well in our time apart. But the smile that lit up his boyish features brought me back down to a more comfortable level around him and his bonded. "Zenobia!" His deepened lyrics filled the air as the shock of waking up turned to an expression of joy and surprise as he realized who it was that had woken him from his peaceful slumber.

"You've grown so much," he smiles and I can't help but allow a big smile to stretch my inky lips as I take a couple steps forward to pull a flower from his tangled forlock. Realizing how much he had grown, how tall and broad he had gotten in contrast to my petite, girly shape. "You are the one who has grown! You are nearly as tall as some of the cactus that grow back home now! I hope you have been well." Before I could ramble on anymore his deep voice broke the air once more, stilling the thoughts of how much we had both changed in the past.

"How are you? Are you well?" Dark rimmed ears flicked forward as I listened to his deep voice, soaking in the gentle baritone that reminded me of simpler time when I wasn't the Wildfire's first born I was his only and ma and pa still cared about each other deeply. But things were different now and there wasn't much I could do about it other than keep smiling and doing my job. "I am well! Staying busy with random missions that da sends me on, how are you? Still in the Throat?" I nearly felt foolish asking about his home, but for all I knew he had met some stunning mare who had dragged him back to her home and there they had a beautiful family of their own.



"Speech."