Do not let them change you.
Send your waves out far and wide,

She slipped from the comfortable side of her mother and brother for the venture that resided far and wide. The idea of adventure, of meeting new champions in their own rights were exciting enough for the child. It was nothing new, slipping away from Mother and Brother. In fact, the filly imagined that they should have been used to it by now. No longer scolded, but instead followed by the trusty companion of her mother. This time, however, she couldn’t find the little beast. That was solace enough for the princess as she tiptoed her way through the woodlands of the Threshold. She had no worries, no cares, no fear, for she wasn’t alone. Khairi, her companion, had gained his flight feathers and was learning how to glide among them. The vulture was black during his juvenility but would soon fade out to becoming mostly white. For now, this made him the shadow that tranced and danced between the trees, calls of excitement and pride escaping from a sharp cutthroat beak.

It radiated to the filly as they trotted over large limbs of fallen trees and found their way around, hopefully not getting lost. But the filly at least had a sense of direction that she used with ease in desperate times. Of course, Khairi, being able to fly now gave her an extra bit of insight. And they were on the hunt with it. Khairi, hunting for a mouse or something else rather small, while Kiada was in search of company. She danced along with her companion as he searched, raptor eyes glued to the forest floor while Kiada’s oceanic gaze viewed the sky and the wonders of what it would feel like to fly, to feel the wind beneath imaginary wings. But these were all impossible, of course. The filly could always imagine, though.

Ashen dipped legs carried her further into the land while the trees broke from above allowing a beautiful view of the sky, and while she walked the light trickled down from the trees above her dappling her already white appaloosa rump. Still, her onyx head aimed toward the sky enjoying the view. Then, suddenly, the filly spotted something. Something much too large to be a normal bird. Something that appeared almost horse like. Quickly, she turned in the direction the creature had been flying, mentally telling Khairi to follow as she picked up a canter. The tiny child ran, the wind pushing back and slightly tangling her mane as it began to grow out slightly from the Mohawk children bore. She ran and ran, two sets of eyes searching for the stranger from the sky.

Luckily it hadn’t taken long for her to spot the creature. She was a rather small mare, Kiada made a mental note of. She was shorter than Mother, stark black in contrast to the pale gilded Thief that was her blood. Kiada watched for a second or two while she gathered her breath, doing her best to not look a mess in front of the creature. Curiously, but confidently, the filly knelt down to let Khairi up onto her back. He stood contently at the base of her mane, making himself a little perch on her withers where he began to be enveloped in harmless flames that licked against his feathers. Kiada began to feel confident, aiming to do her best with this newcomer (that she assumed to be) and not fail like she had last time with the masked mare. So she stepped out, dancing over to the mare but not too close – definitely within eyesight of the woman. A smile crossed her pink lips as little griffons took shape along the flames on her spine. She looked up to the mare from her standpoint and nodded her head like she had seen mother do to people she hadn’t met. “Hello! I’m Kiada!” She called out in a small whinny, ink dipped legs nearly prancing in the spot. So far, no one else had showed up and that was perfect for the tiny child. “This is Helovia, are you new?” She questioned with a cock of her head as Khairi stared with gold eyes surrounded by blood red with an almost haunting gaze.

"Talk."

let them learn the hard way —

that you can’t command the tide.

Kiada