Look to love, you may dream—hope is home,

and the heart is free.

When the herd meeting had been dismissed, Tiamat had left them in a hurry of confusion and hurt. Perhaps it is not her place to feel so bitter, and perhaps it is not her right to have bound him by promise to these snowy mountains. Even so, the unexpected announcement of the Haruspex’s (former Haruspex) departure had come as a blow that the delicate woman is unused to. She feels...betrayed, almost. Forsaken. Sequestered to the darkness of her cave, her soft, fragile heart is caught in a rolling turmoil between bitterness and guilt (because who is she to feel so selfish? Who is she to have wanted him against his will?)

The ocean mare is not familiar with these painful emotions. Having been fortunate enough to enjoy the purity of her own little world, and escape the dark shadows of anger and hate, she does not understand them, much less know how to deal with the gnarl of  distress that twists her heart. It is not that she doesn’t love Ashamin anymore—he will always be her dearest, dearest friend—but she is hurt that he had left with no warning, no goodbye.

(Then again, is she so self-centered to assume that she deserves an account of his every plan? That he would need her permission?)

Groaning to herself, the blue mare rolls on her side, tucking slender legs beneath her and rising from the cave’s stony floor. She would like to forget these grievances that haunt her mind, muscles quickly coaxed into motion with the hope that—perhaps—a change of scenery will help ease the trembling of her heart. Stepping into the waning light, she sighs through sapphire nostrils, pausing a moment before descending the short distance to the Basin’s floor. Only after she has already strolled in the hot spring’s direction does she decide on her destination, reminiscing of the warm waters and steaming, wispy comfort of its vapors.

It will do her good to be surrounded by her brother’s waters, connected through him to both her parents, soothed by the ever-abiding love of family.

Nevertheless, on this rare evening that she would perhaps prefer to be alone, fate does not agree. Already bathing in the hot springs, is a pale mare that Tiamat does not recognize; she has maybe caught a glance of the small mare around the Basin’s valley, but there is no name paired with her face. Taking this in stride, the young Mender does not hesitant in her original plans (perhaps fate has not given her what she wants, but what she needs). A suffering heart should not have to bear its sorrows alone.

“Hello there,” she approaches the ice-frosted stranger with little inhibition, a genuine smile softening velvet lips. “I don’t believe that we’ve met—officially, at least. I’m Tiamat,” a friendly tip of her horn is given to the other woman, the length of her leonine tail swishing behind her before she steps forward, descending into the springs. “The water feels good, doesn’t it?” She sighs happily, smiling deeper as the warmth cocoons her body, swathing her in a blanket of relief. “I come here to relax, or to enjoy the view of the Aurora Borealis; or simply to appreciate the warmth,” the Mender’s voice is laced with breathy laughter, softening the hard lines of heartache across her face.

notes; I am SO SO sorry! I will really try to be faster from now on<333
“Speech.”