Death was a strange, finite notion, and a filly only a month of age was not particularly adept with such abstract concepts.  As such, when she heard that her mother's first two children no longer lived, she found herself wondering where they had gone.  What did it mean to live?  What did it mean to be not living?  How did it all work?  What happened when something wasn't alive?  If they were gone, how would their loved ones see them again?

As Gaucho looked to the sky, Vinati followed his gaze, taking in the deep blue dotted here and there with fluffy clouds.  She loved the way the sky looked, and it pleased her to no end to imagine how she would soar one day.  She wondered if the clouds were as comfortable to nap on as they looked, not realizing that they were nothing but water vapor.  Every now and then, when a storm rolled on the horizon, she wondered if her father had ever flown through one.  The lightning was so pretty from the ground - would it be as exciting to see up close?

(As I said, she didn't quite grasp the concept of mortality.)

"Oh, she said again, her small voice filled with wonder.  "So... they watch out for us?  Our ants est hers?"  How absolutely lovely! "Do they live with the Sun God, Ave?"  The sun was in the sky, and so were the clouds.  Clouds brought rain, so the clouds must be their ancestors, right?  And since they were all up there together...  The girl gasped.  "Can I visit them when I can fly?" She watched a distant cloud move slowly across the sky, imagining it to be a long-dead ancestor sent to watch over her, excited by the possibility of finding them one day just waiting to welcome her into the sky.

At the news of her mother's power, the little sand princess nodded.  She knew that her mother communed with the dead, but she hadn't realized that dead creatures were actually here at some point.  She had simply thought them to be in another realm, one that only her mother could travel to.  "Dead" and "living" were separate things, not tied in any way - until now.  Again her little nose scrunched up in thought.  Her mother had recently taught her that her own visions were visions of the dead, visions that she had thought were of a different world than hers.  "Those who have left us," Sohalia had called the figures that Vinati had seen, looking sadly away.  And Vinati had sought her mother's counsel because...

"Oh!"  Vinati suddenly remembered.  "Pa, I've seen Skysong!"  A brilliant smile appeared on her face.  "And a tiny foal, too.  They watch Momma sometimes.  I think they miss her."  She paused, musing.  If she was separated from her mother or her father - at this a look of fright appeared across her tiny features, and she moved to cuddle against her father's legs - she would be sad, too.  "If Skysong's here, then she didn't really leave, did she?  Even if she and Momma can't talk?"