Despite appearances, Aleta had no desire to be an adventurer - or, at least, she didn't want to wander like this. Her current quest felt hopeless, as though she would be forever pressing onward, searching endlessly for her mother - her hopes rising as she crested each hill because surely, surely she would see Sohalia just there, only to have her wishes crushed as the expanse before her was yet again empty, as it always was. She was tired of returning home day after day with nothing to show for her excursions except loneliness. Though she cheered herself with the reminder that she always had Kaj, it hurt to know that her mother had willfully abandoned her, that she was an afterthought, a mistake. For that was the only explanation she could conjure that would have driven the Transcended from her side.

She never imagined the true size of her family, never knew that she had more siblings than she would be able to count.

She looked so very forlorn, standing there alone in the Riptide Isles, though she was trying so very hard to act the proper princess before the stranger she had come across. Cera praised her manners, and she smiled shyly, remembering how she had striven to perfect diplomacy after her father had explained its importance. Besides, manners were something that would never go out of style. It was kind of him to notice, however, and his words had just the effect he had intended - Aleta was all the more likely to continue her current behavior given the positivity of his reaction.

Though part of her wanted very badly to stem the words flowing so eagerly from her mouth, she found revealing her pain and fear to be amazingly cathartic. And Cera was such a brilliant listener, regarding her with a brow creased with true concern and feeling. As the minutes ticked by, the little lightning girl found herself growing more and more relaxed in his presence, as though he were an older brother that she simply hadn't seen in quite some time. As the stallion gave her his condolences, she might have (had she been any other filly) felt the urge to move closer, to cuddle beneath one of his great wings and let him comfort her through the tears that threatened to spill from her pretty, bicolored eyes.

As it were, she merely sniffed softly and looked away, shifting uncomfortably. Even if she were that forward (which she was not), and even if she were not so physically oversensitive (which she was), she would never be able to act that way towards someone who was basically a complete stranger.

But as the stallion promised to assist her in her quest to find her missing mother, the girl brightened considerably, her ears perking up and her eyes lighting for the first time. "You - you will?" she asked him, hope brimming in her voice. "Oh, thank you so very much! I would appreciate any help you can give." There was a hint of relief in the girl, a brief sense of confidence appearing because surely, with the help of such a kind and knowledgeable stallion, she could not continue to fail. "Oh, yes, my mother is Sohalia the Transcended," she revealed. "She's sort of small and grey and has these pretty white wings, and she has a wakiya companion named Astraeus." A pause. "I know she isn't in the Hidden Falls, because that's where I live with my father, Kaj the Aurelight. But... I haven't been able to look in any of the other herds, and I can only travel so far in a day, so..." She trailed off helplessly, hopelessly. "Have you seen her anywhere?"

"Talk."